How Hushpuppi ‘laundered funds’ for North Korean hackers

The United States Department of Justice has revealed how Ramon Abbas, better known as Hushpuppi, laundered millions of dollars for North Korean military hackers indicted in a chain of global cyberfraud.

Hushpuppi was arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in June 2020 but later extradited to the US following a series of money laundering and cyber fraud activities involving hundreds of millions of dollars traced to him.

The internet celebrity has been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering before a US court. His trial billed to commence in October was suspended as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

But in a fresh document released by the justice department, Hushpuppi was again indicted for conspiring with Ghaleb Alaumary, a Canadian-American, who works with three North Korean computer programmers accused of stealing more than $1.3 billion and cryptocurrency from financial institutions and companies across the world.

“Federal prosecutors today also unsealed a charge against Ghaleb Alaumary, 37, of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, for his role as a money launderer for the North Korean conspiracy, among other criminal schemes. Alaumary agreed to plead guilty to the charge, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Nov. 17, 2020,” the US department said.

“Alaumary was a prolific money launderer for hackers engaged in ATM cash-out schemes, cyber-enabled bank heists, business email compromise (BEC) schemes, and other online fraud schemes. Alaumary is also being prosecuted for his involvement in a separate BEC scheme by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia. In relation to the case filed in Los Angeles, Alaumary has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

“With respect to the North Korean co-conspirators’ activities, Alaumary organized teams of co-conspirators in the United States and Canada to launder millions of dollars obtained through ATM cash-out operations, including from BankIslami and a bank in India in 2018.

“Alaumary also conspired with Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, aka “Ray Hushpuppi,” and others to launder funds from a North Korean-perpetrated cyber-enabled heist from a Maltese bank in February 2019. Last summer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles charged Abbas in a separate case alleging that he conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from BEC frauds and other scams.”