Nigerian Internet fraudster Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas has appealed to the United States District Court for the Central District of California not to send him to Nigeria as he could be exterminated by embattled police officer Abba Kyari.
Hushpuppi said Kyari operates a death squad in Nigeria that is already hounding his family in the country.
Abbas said his role in the indictment of Mr Kyari, which engendered the downfall of Nigeria’s most-celebrated cop l, has put him at grave risk and he would not be able to return to Nigeria after serving his sentence in the U.S.
Hushpuppi assertions were contained in a memorandum he submitted before Judge Otis Wright seeking a downward review of sentencing years demanded by the prosecutors after Mr Abbas pleaded guilty to multimillion-dollar fraud last year. Louis Shapiro, an American defence attorney hired by Mr Abbas, filed the memorandum on behalf of his client on September 5, per court filing seen by Peoples Gazette.
The prosecutors have demanded up to 11 years in prison for Mr Abbas, as well as payment of $1.7 million in restitution and $500,000 in fines. A three-year supervised release after completion of the 11-year sentence was also recommended, court papers showed.
The defence, led by Mr Shapiro, countered the request, saying Mr Abbas had become a changed person since he was arrested in Dubai in June 2020, extradited to the U.S. in the same month and remanded in prison ever since. The defence, therefore, asked the court to hand Hushpuppi between 35-41 months in prison, thengblog reports.
Mr Wright is expected to hear the matter on September 21 and subsequently determine sentencing duration. “Once this case is resolved and Mr. Abbas is released, that he will not be able to return to Nigeria,” Mr Shapiro wrote in the counter request. “Abubakar Kiyari, a Nigerian politician and police commissioner, operates a death squad. Kiyari was indicted in the Juma case by the government’s investigation into this case.”
“Mr. Abbas hopes to move his family out of Nigeria when he gets out of prison. The looming threat of Mr. Kiyari’s supporters, as well as intense media harassment, has forced his family to continue moving to secret locations within Nigeria.
“They must rent different apartments simultaneously while continuously changing telephone lines. Additionally, his children face the possibility of going through their formative years without their father,:” Mr Shapiro added.
