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Claim: Hushpuppi has been released from prison.
Verdict: The claim is false. Hushpuppi is still serving his jail term at a US correctional facility. The picture used to depict his return is old.
Full Text
In November 2022, the United States District Court sentenced Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi, to 135 months in the US Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Fort Dix, New Jersey facility. This was after he pleaded guilty to a multimillion-dollar fraud charge, which he jointly executed.
Before his arrest in 2020, he was a famous Nigerian Instagram celebrity known for flaunting his crime-funded luxurious lifestyle on social media.
Recently, a Facebook user identified as “Drixan” announced on his profile that “Hushpuppi is back from the prison,” looking skinny. To make his narrative believable, he attached a picture of Huspuppi alighting from a jet in the company of an unidentified man. He was dressed in Gucci attire, holding bags from the same brand.
Examining the comment section, DUBAWA found that this claim has received more applause than doubt from other Facebook users. For example, BriteStar Raphillrecords, admiring the picture attached to the post, also wanted the same experience.
He said, “See the way people dey come back from prison like people wey dey go world tour, abeg make una come carry me go that kind prison jare.”
Another user, Fortuner Timi Sunny, rather disgusted by Hushpuppi’s alleged return, said,
“A prison is now a place where fraudsters get awards. I’m just imagining.”
Aside from Facebook, DUBAWA has also found similar rumours on TikTok and X (formerly Twitter).
In light of the substantial Facebook engagement, where this post has received 11,000 likes and 170 shares, and considering the few scepticism expressed, DUBAWA conducted this fact-check for accuracy.
Verification
Being a famous international fraudster, the arrest and eventual jail sentence of Hushpuppi, spanning from 2020 to 2022, was monitored and reported by both National and International newspapers. Hence, the news would be viral online if he were “suddenly” released from jail.
Consequently, DUBAWA made keyword searches on Google but found no report that announced his release. Moreover, his sentence, which would last for 135 months (over 11 years), only began in November 2022.
Since Hushpuppi’s verified Instagram account has been deactivated, we decided to conduct a reverse image search on the picture attached to the claim. Results showed that it has been on the internet since 2018.
Conclusion
Hushpuppi started his 11-year and three-month jail sentence in 2022, and there is no credible news of a sudden release from the United States federal prison. Additionally, his old picture was used to aid the false narrative.
