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Tech

How technology is transforming money laundering

Digital Finance News Staff

Published

on

On the shallow surface of Instagram, Ramon “Hushpuppi” Abbas was a quintessential influencer. The flamboyant Nigerian portrayed a lavish lifestyle of private jets, luxury cars and designer clothes. His glamorous adventures had earned him over 2 million followers and millions of dollars. But his posts hid a darker reality.

According to the FBI, the 41-year-old was “one of the most prolific money launderers in the world.”

By his own admission, Hushpuppi conspired to launder over $300 million in just 18 months. One of his alleged clients was a certain Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of North Korea.

With his passion for cybercrime, cryptocurrencyand social media, Hushpuppi embodied a new era for his profession. Technology was transforming money laundering.

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His escapades caught the attention of Geoff White, a UK-based investigative journalist. White had won acclaim for The Lazarus Heist, a podcast and book about a cybercriminal collective linked to the North Korean state.

In 2019, the group broke into Malta’s Bank of Valletta.

“At that point, they’re in the bank vaults,” White tells TNW. “They can take the money out, but they have to send it somewhere. They can’t send them to Kim Jong Un’s bank accounts, that would be pretty obvious. So instead they call Hushpuppi.”

Hushpuppi was open for business. The scammer provided bank accounts to wash the stolen money. Prosecutors said he helped launder about $14.7 million from the raid.

Ramón