Hushpuppi: Kenyan court orders extradition of Abba Kyari co-conspirator Imran Juma to U.S

Kenyan court has ordered the extradition of Kenyan businessman, Abdulrahman Imran Juma, to the United States to face money laundering charges like his Nigeria’s co-conspirators fraudster, Ramon Abbas popularly known as ‘Hushpuppi’.

According to Peoples Gazette, Milimani Chief Magistrate, Wendy Micheni, on Friday granted the orders allowing U.S. authorities to open charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

Micheni maintained that there was no evidence to show that uma would not receive a fair trial in the U.S.

“The fugitive is said to be part of a syndicate that orchestrated a scheme with his co-conspirators who are already before the United States District Court for the Central District of California to defraud a victim who was seeking a lender to invest in a project to build a school,” documents from the office of Director of Public Prosecution said.

Juma was allegedly part of an international fraud scheme that plotted to cheat a tycoon seeking to invest in a multimillion project to construct a school in Qatar.

Court documents revealed that in December 2019, popular Nigerian internet fraudster Ramon “Hushpuppi” Abbas conspired with Juma to defraud a Qatari company and its owner. Juma had already been in contact with the victim when Abbas was onboarded.

Abbas started speaking with the victim, posing as a Wells Fargo Bank employee named “Malik”. Both men then opened a bank account at Wells Fargo Bank in Canoga Park, California, using the name of the Qatari victim company.

The document notes that between December 19 and 24, 2019, Messrs Abbas and Juma conned the victim into paying $330,000 to fund an “investor’s account” to facilitate a $15 million loan.

Suspended police officer, Abba Kyari, had been indicted in the Juma case by the government’s investigation, named among five of Abbas’ co-conspirators in a $1.1million fraud charge.

Last week, Abbas and his lawyer Louis Shapiro successfully convinced U.S. federal judge Otis D. Wright to delay his sentencing after multiple appeals. The sentencing hearing is now scheduled for November 3.

Shapiro argued that Abbas would have been unable to prepare for his sentencing hearing without all the documents relating to the Juma case.

In July 2021, Abbas pleaded guilty to multimillion-dollar fraud charges as part of a plea bargain he entered with the U.S. authorities.