Hushpuppi denied bail in the US

Ramon Abbas Olorunwa, popularly  known as Hushpuppi, has been denied bail by a United States court sitting in the Northern District of Illinois.

Abbas, who is a popular Instagram celebrity in Nigeria, was arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and extradited to the US to face criminal charges over allegations of swindling many people and businesses out of millions of dollars through scams. 

Appearing at a detention hearing, a court in Illinois ruled that Abbas will be transported to Los Angeles by the U.S. Marshals Service and will not be allowed to stay with his girlfriend’s uncle in Homewood, Illinois. His trial is slated to be held in Los Angeles where the case was filed rather from Chicago where the investigation is being handled, Forbes reports.

Throughout the hearing, Abbas’s lawyer denied that his client was a flight risk or a danger to the community, repeatedly rejecting the allegations made against his client by the FBI’s affidavit posted earlier. 

Melody Wells, Assistant United States Attorney and a prosecutor in the Chicago district attorney’s office, convinced the court that Abbas is a flight risk, describing his “significant” financial assets, “deep ties to foreign countries” and a lack of ties to the United States.

Wells said Abbas had the “perfect recipe to flee the charges that he faces here.” The court ruled that there was “more than enough justification to order that the U.S. Marshall bring Abbas to California as soon as possible to answer the complaint there.”

Ruling that Abbas had “A great incentive not to continue to respond to these proceedings here,” as he is “facing a long sentence.”

The court acknowledged risks that in addition to holding passports to other countries (Saint Kitts and Nevis) Abbas has “access to large amounts of money” described by the court as “not chump change.”

Adding, “The fact that you project a wealthy lifestyle ... you gotta be doing something right to pay $10,000 a month for an apartment in Dubai ... you have access to some real cash.”