Ramon Abbas, 40, was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles to 135 months in prison after pleading guilty in April 2021 to a money laundering conspiracy that included helping North Korean hackers launder money from their efforts to steal more of $1.3 billion through cyberspace. enabled bank robberies, according to the US government. By agreeing to plead guilty, Abbas waived most of his rights to appeal the sentence, although he can still do so under limited circumstances. “Everything is on the table,” Abbas’s attorney, John Iweanoge, said after the sentencing hearing in Los Angeles, where he suggested four to five years would be appropriate. “It was much, much more than we thought,” he said of the prison sentence the judge imposed. Also read | Russian-born billionaire renounces citizenship to protest war in Ukraine: Report Nigerian-born Abbas rose to fame through his Instagram posts to his more than 2 million followers, often smiling in front of one of his Rolls Royces or Ferraris or kicking back in a seat on a private jet. In the gossip blogs, he was known as “Nigerian big boy”, short for an online scammer. “He was an equal opportunity criminal,” prosecutors said in a court filing, citing his “long history as a fraud and money launderer.” Abbas “is, by all accounts, an ambitious individual, but his ambition has long been directed toward crime and its rewards,” the government said. “His behavior was reprehensible and deserves serious punishment.” U.S. District Judge Otis Wright said he felt prosecutors and defense attorneys were talking about two different people in the depictions of Abbas. Abbas’ lawyers painted a picture of a family man and successful businessman who drifted into the world of crime and did little more than provide access to bank accounts for fraudsters. Abbas, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and handcuffed, told the judge he was in deep financial trouble in 2019 when he accepted offers from some of his associates to help them launder money. “I was desperate, your honor,” he said. “I was very desperate.” He apologized to his victims and promised to repay them in full by selling his two Rolls Royces, a Ferrari and a Range Rover. In his plea agreement, Abbas admitted to setting up bank accounts in Romania and Bulgaria for Ghaleb Alaumary, a convicted money launderer, through which money from a Malta bank robbery was laundered. The US has accused North Korean hackers of stealing or planning to steal 13 million euros ($13 million) from the Maltese bank. Abbas also set up a bank account in Mexico to help launder money from email scams targeting a British professional soccer team and a British company. Those scams would have bilked UK victims of 6 million pounds ($6.9 million), the US said. He also admitted to helping launder money from other fraud victims, including a law firm in New York and a company in Qatar, according to the US. Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Abbas to 11 years and three months in prison. Abbas did not know how many people were involved in the plot, nor how much money was involved, his lawyers said. They blamed his involvement on his naivety and poor judgment. “Mr. Abbas was not the leader, organizer or supervisor in the commission of this offense,” his lawyers said. “Mr. Abbas has done everything in his power to correct his unjust actions.” Alaumary, of Mississauga, Ontario, was sentenced to more than 11 years in September after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering. In a letter to the judge, Abbas apologized for his actions. “If I could turn back the hands of time, I would make a completely different decision and be more careful about the choices and friends I make,” he said in the handwritten letter. The case is US v. Abbas, 2:20-cr-322, US District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).
