Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi, could get a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted, the U.S. government has said.
Mr Abbas, 37, was arrested recently in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was known for living an extravagant lifestyle and flaunting it on social media.
He made his first appearance in a U.S court, Friday morning, in Chicago, according to a press release from the U.S Department of Justice.
He would be transferred to Los Angeles in the coming days, the release said.
An affidavit, alongside a criminal complaint filed in court by the U.S. authorities alleges that Mr Abbas and others used the internet to steal millions of dollars from people and companies.
The American government said Mr Abbas funded his extravagant lifestyle with stolen money.
“The FBI led the investigation of Abbas, and the United States Secret Service was also involved and provided substantial assistance.
“The FBI thanks the government of the United Arab Emirates and the Dubai Police Department for their substantial assistance,” the statement said.
Abbas allegedly conspired with others to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in scams targeting a law firm, a bank and an English Premier League soccer club, according to a criminal complaint filed last month in federal court.
Abbas’s Instagram account is flooded with displays of wealth, from luxury cars to private jets, as well as videos and photos of him globe-trotting with celebrities including a Manchester City soccer player, a Nigerian singer and a Turkish chef.
“This case targets a key player in a large, transnational conspiracy who was living an opulent lifestyle in another country while allegedly providing safe havens for stolen money around the world,” Nick Hanna, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said in a statement.
UAE authorities arrested Abbas last month, and FBI agents took custody of him this week, prosecutors said.
Abbas and the unnamed others in his network specialized in what are known as “business email compromise” schemes, authorities said. That type of scheme generally involves gaining unauthorized access to a corporate email account or otherwise tricking a business into sending a wire transfer to the scammers.
Business email compromise scams accounted for $1.7 billion in alleged losses last year, according to the FBI.
A client of an unnamed New York-based law firm lost about $923,000 last year after Abbas and others tricked a paralegal into wiring them money that was intended for the client’s real estate financing, the FBI said.
Another scheme involved $14.7 million stolen from a non-U.S. financial institution last year.
