Hushpuppi removed from Instagram ahead of sentencing

Nigeria’s internet influencer and notorious international fraudster, Hushpuppi has been removed from the photo and video-sharing platform, Instagram.

Hushpuppi was arrested in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in June 2020 with 12 accomplices over allegations bordering on hacking, impersonation, scamming, banking fraud, and identity theft, and thereafter extradited to the US for prosecution.

His Instagram account — which he used as a platform to display his lavish lifestyle to his 2.8 million followers — had remained active until recently when it was noticed to have disappeared.

When searching for the account, one is directed to an Instagram document saying the page was not available and that it “may have been removed”.

The account featured images of Abbas’s ostentatious lifestyle, including stepping out of a helicopter at Dubai’s Atlantis The Palm resort and collecting a new Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

Abbas is described as one of the “most high-profile money launderers in the world”, who acted in the open rather than the shadows.

His extradition to the US was hinged after the UAE police detailed his arrest where he was accused of defrauding 1.9 million victims to the tune of N168billion.

Almost $41m in cash and 13 cars valued at about $6.8m were seized, as were phone and computer evidence containing more than 100,000 fraudulent files.

In addition, the email addresses of nearly two million possible victims were found, Dubai Police said at the time.