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Suspected cyber-criminal, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, popularly called Hushpuppi has rejected the continued legal service of Chicago lawyer, Gal Pissetzky and settled for a government lawyer after his case was transferred to another district.
Recall the U.S. top lawyer of the Pissetzky & Berliner law firm who is renowned for handling criminal cases in Chicago had, on Hushpuppi’s behalf, applied for a bail but was declined by the US court, MERIDIAN SPY reported.
Pissetzky had in the bail application sought for his client to leave jail with an electronic tag and live with the uncle of a woman with whom he has a child with.
Justice Gilbert, however, denied the request on grounds that the Instagram socialite was a flight risk and ordered that the suspected Nigerian fraudster be remanded in custody until he is taken to a court in California.
According to Premium Times, the 37-year-old suspected cyber-criminal’s case has been transferred to the Central District of California for prosecution.
It was gathered that the transfer had come after the US government orally renewed its motion for removal in custody and the motion was granted during the detention hearing on Monday.
“Accordingly, Defendant is ordered removed to the Central District of California in the custody of the U.S. Marshal forthwith,” the court ruled after which the defendant was moved on Tuesday.
“As provided by 18 U.S.C. § 3142(f), the defendant is remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal and shall remain in custody until further order of the Court.”
It was learnt from the commitment letter sent to California that Hushpuppi had refused to retain Pissetzky as his attorney, requesting that a court-appointed counsel be assigned to him.
Hushpuppi was arrested in Dubai and extradited to the US.
He is facing criminal charges for “conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from Business Email Compromise (BEC) frauds and other scams, including schemes targeting a U.S. law firm, a foreign bank and an English Premier League soccer club.
If convicted of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, the self-acclaimed Instagram influencer would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
