The documents showed fresh evidence indicting HushPuppi of committing fraud and money laundering in U.S Federal correctional facility.
A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent in the United States (US) has alleged that Instagram celebrity, Ramon Abbas, aka Hushpuppi, received fresh charges as the United States prosecutors submitted court documents showing that he committed fraud and laundered over $400,000 while in jail.
According to documents submitted before the United States District Court of California on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, HushPuppi committed fraud and money laundering while in a US federal correctional facility.
The documents revealed that Hushpuppi, while in prison, participated in the purchase and laundering of Economic Impact Payment debit cards fraudulently obtained from stolen data of US citizens and residents.
Economic Impact Payments are a key provision of the US Coronavirus Aid Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act legislation that Congress passed to help reduce the financial burden of COVID-19 on individuals and their families. One of the ways eligible US residents receive their Economic Impact Payments is by debit cards.
From the documents presented in court, it was found that hackers use data of US residents to file and obtain Economic Impact Payments debit cards. They sell off these EIP cards in underground marketplaces to other cybercriminals.
According to the agent, Hushpuppi was actively buying EIP debit cards from an underground cybercriminal marketplace called StimulusCard (“https://stimuluscard.com/”). While being recorded, Hushpuppi bought a total of 58 EIP debit cards with a total value of $429,800 on the site and laundered the money through one AJ.
Reacting, the US authorities, according to reports, said prisoners have limited access to the telephone, video, internet and computer use because of their right to privacy in a court filing.
The authority stated that like the rest of the detainees, Hushpuppi was granted access to the computer network.
