FACT CHECK: Has Hushpuppi returned from US Prison?

CLAIM: Hushpuppy has returned from Prison.

FULL TEXT

A Facebook user claimed that Ramoni Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi, who is serving a jail term in a US prison for internet fraud, has been freed and is back in Nigeria.

The notorious Instagram influencer was arrested by Interpol in Dubai in 2020 alongside other members of an internet fraud syndicate. He was extradited to the United States where he was tried for money laundering.

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In 2021, he pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of money laundering and 10 months after, in November 2022, he was sentenced to 135 months in prison; that is over 11 years.

VERIFICATION

There is no credible report that reported such a release. There was also no way he could have been released when he has not fully served his term, and he is not eligible for parole, based on US laws.

Ripples Nigeria also conducted a reverse search of the image in the Facebook post and found that it is an old one. It had been on the internet for years before Hushpuppi was arrested. The same picture is here in a 2017 post.

CONCLUSION

The claim that Hushpuppi has been freed from US prison is false.

By Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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