According to recent reports, Instagram star Ramon Olorunwa Abbas has been sentenced to 11 years in jail in LA. He has been indulging in a lavish lifestyle by committing fraud and money laundering. He has been told by the court to $1.7 million to two fraud victims. Read the entire article to learn about this news piece.
About Abbas
Abbas was “one of the most prolific money launderers in the world”, Don Alway, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said in the statement.
“By his own admission, during just an 18-month period defendant conspired to launder over $300m,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum, although they said much of the intended loss “did not ultimately materialize”.
“I hope someday I will be inspiring more young people to join me on this path,” read one Instagram post by Abbas, who pleaded guilty in April 2021 to one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering.
Abbas and his friends used to mint money through BEC attacks from people and companies and even managed to get some from a football team. He used to steal their money by hacking into their accounts and sending fake messages and invoices which is why the victims themselves used to hand over money to the fraudsters. Abbas is an active user of social media. His glamorous lifestyle is all over his social media account. He is able to maintain such a lifestyle because of stealing money from people. In his pictures, he can be seen chilling in his private jets, owning luxury cars, etc. He was arrested from Dubai in the year 2020 and then taken to the US, where he will now serve his time in prison.
What is money laundering?
In simple words, money laundering is an illegal way of minting money. This is basically ‘dirty money as it comes from drug trafficking, criminal activity, and all sorts of other illegal practices, and the money launderers make an effort to make the money look clean and legal. So basically, this process of earning money is done very secretively. Things like digital money and cryptocurrency have made it very easy for money launderers to commit fraud and mint money in the process. Getting rid of this practice is an international effort. Talking about Abbas, the FBI did say he was is one of the most efficient money launderers and the agency has been after him for quite some time.
