Investigation of Ray Hushpuppi, a Nigerian influencer with a lavish lifestyle, who authorities say mastered business email compromise attacks, netting

backstreetboy

backstreetboy

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For Ramon Abbas, the Instagram influencer popularly known as Ray Hushpuppi, @hushpuppi, Hush, or the Billionaire Gucci Master, birthdays were always a time for reflection. Reflection and extravagance—but then, extravagance was Hushpuppi’s brand, a 365-days-a-year affair, a way of being. On Oct. 11, 2019, the day he turned 37, he was living in a penthouse apartment at the Palazzo Versace Dubai, with a private pool and hot tub on his lanai. A typical @hushpuppi post on Instagram, where he had more than 2 million followers, featured Abbas smiling in front of one of his Ferraris or Rolls-Royces, kicking back in his seat on a private jet, or exiting a designer store with a passel of rope-handled bags—#Hermes, #Fendi, #LouisVuitton. His look was always flawless: never the same outfit twice, #Gucci more often than not. You don’t become the Billionaire Gucci Master any other way.

Even back in 2019, there were questions about how much money Abbas really had and how exactly he’d acquired it. In Nigeria, where he was born, his Instagram presence had turned him into a celebrity adjacent to the biggest names in pop culture. He'd appeared on social media with pop idols Davido and WizKid and soccer players on English clubs like Chelsea and Man City. But Abbas’s wealth was the constant subject of rumors. In the flourishing ecosystem of Nigerian gossip blogs he was “a Nigerian big boy,” shorthand for an online fraudster, or “Yahoo Boy,” who’d struck it rich and showed it off. Abbas dismissed the talk as the jealousy of so many haters, disappointed with their own lives and determined to bring down a self-made man who’d left them all behind.
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ShaunSA

ShaunSA

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On the plus side his prison nick can be Ray Hushpapi
 
Okty

Okty

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One of the ways that Abbas and his associates made their millions was through Business Email Compromise (BEC) - breaking into corporate email systems and sending bogus invoices and requests to payment to unsuspecting companies, who then transferred funds into accounts under the criminals' control.

As CNN describes, the man who liked to call himself "Hushpuppi" has now pleaded guilty, and awaits sentencing.

According to authorities, Abbas's money-laundering ring conspired to steal $100 million from an unnamed English Premier League soccer club. In addition, it was claimed that Abbas plotted to move £200m from a company in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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Ok, I am actually impressed.
 
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