Hacker linked to BOV's €13 million cyber heist denied bail
A man linked to BOV’s €13 million cyber heist has been
denied bail in the US and his trial over money laundering allegations will
continue later this year.
Nigerian Instagram influencer Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, also
known as Ray Hushpuppi, was arrested in June at his Dubai apartment and handed
over to FBI agents, who flew him to Chicago at the beginning of July.
According to the FBI’s sworn statement Abbas and another
person “conspired to launder funds intended to be stolen through fraudulent
wire transfers from a foreign financial institution, in which fraudulent wire
transfers totalling approximately €13 million were sent to bank accounts around
the world in February 2019.”
The 'foreign financial institution' has not yet been named
in court and BOV have declined to confirm or deny the link.
On February 13 of last year, Bank of Valletta shut down all
its operations after hackers broke into its systems and moved €13 million into
foreign accounts.
In May of 2019 the bank said it had recovered €10 million of
the total sum. Then earlier this year six people were arrested in Northern
Ireland in connection with the heist.
The UK's National Crime Agency had said hackers were able to
access BOV systems and move the money into foreign accounts before some of the
cash was spent on high-end goods including Rolex watches and an Audi A5 car.
Until five weeks ago, Abbas flaunted a lavish lifestyle with
his 2.5million Instagram followers who know him as Hushpuppi.
Hit planned for February 12
According to the FBI’s affidavit, the “hit” was planned for
February 12. Abbas sent the account information for a Romanian bank account to
his co-conspiraor, which he said could be used for “large amounts”.
The next day, after Abbas sent screenshots showing that the
funds had not arrived in the Romanian bank account, his coconspirator replied:
“today they noticed and pressed a recall on it , it might show and block or
never show.”
The coconspirator then sent an image of a news article to
Abbas detailing the theft of funds from the foreign financial institution,
followed by a message stating “look it hit the news.”
Abbas replied: “damn” and the coconspirator added: “next one
is in few weeks will let you know when it’s ready. Too bad they caught on or it
would been a nice payout.”
Comments
Post a Comment