Latest: Hushpuppi accused of targeting English Premier League club in $100 million scam
A social media celebrity and his accomplice have been extradited to the US after being arrested in Dubai last month.
Nigerian Ramon Abbas, known as Hushpuppi, and his accomplice Olalekan Ponle or Woodberry were among 12 people arrested in a police operation called Fox Hunt 2.
On June 11, they were referred to Dubai prosecution for investigations.
Police said their crimes included money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonating, scamming individuals, banking fraud and identity theft committed outside the UAE.
They are accused of creating fake websites of well-known companies and banks, and defrauding people.
During the raid, police confiscated 13 luxury cars, valued at about Dh25 million, 21 computers and 47 smartphones.
They said the email addresses of 800,000 people were found and Dh1.6 billion could have been stolen from victims of the alleged scam.
The operation was called Fox Hunt 2, after a similar raid was carried out in February on an African cyber-crime gang accused of stealing Dh32m in a similar scam.
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Ramon Abbas was extradited to the US after his arrest in Dubai in 2020. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail on Monday, November 7, 2022. Photo: Dubai Police -
Hushpuppi posed as a property investor and businessman. Pictures from his Instagram account – which had more than two million followers before it was shut down – showed him landing at Atlantis, The Palm in a helicopter. Photo: Dubai Police -
Police said they had sought Hushpuppi after he was implicated in an online fraud. Photo: Dubai Police -
A police video showed the suspect apparently admitting and explaining how the fraud worked. Photo: Dubai Police -
A police video showed arrests at luxury properties in Dubai. Photo: Dubai Police -
Hushpuppi was arrested along with 11 others, some of whom are pictured here. Photo: Dubai Police -
Officers seized 13 luxury cars worth an estimated Dh25 million ($6.8m). The vehicles had been paid for with victims' money. Photo: Dubai Police -
Hushpuppi with a Rolls-Royce in Dubai. The National
Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, thanked Dubai Police for arresting and extraditing Hushpuppi and gang.
Emirati police have in recent months focused on organised crime gangs found to be operating in the country.
Last month, a suspected drug trafficker linked to violent turf wars in Belgium was arrested in Dubai.
Nordin EH, a Belgian-Moroccan, faces various drug charges and was linked to cocaine smuggling and hand-grenade attacks on rivals in Antwerp.
In December, suspected Dutch crime lord Ridouan Taghi was arrested in connection with 11 murders in the Netherlands.
He was alleged to be behind a third of Europe’s cocaine trade and is rumoured to have made €100m (Dh412m) from drugs trade.
In June, Amir Mekky, an international gang leader wanted by Interpol, was arrested in Dubai.
Mekky was associated with Taghi and the Angels of Death gang and was wanted in connection with two murders and arson attacks in southern Spain.
