Hushpuppi: I’m ready to defend myself if FBI comes for me – Daddy Freeze

 

‘"What do I have to hide? Let them check all the notes I have and see if there is anything that looks like Dubai money that can be traced to Hushpuppi, they should come."

A popular Nigerian broadcaster, Ifedayo Olarinde alias Daddy Freeze, has said he is ready to defend himself should the FBI invite him for questioning concerning his relationship with an alleged internet fraudster, Ramon Abass aka Hushpuppi.

Daddy Freeze said this on his verified Instagram handle in a video titled, “Abba Kyari denies Huspuppi bribe allegation; says hands clean.”

His remarks were made on the backdrop of the recent announcement by the FBI that it was seeking Mr Kyari’s arrest over allegations that he abetted a $1.1 million transnational cyber-fraud initiated by Hushpuppi, a Nigerian Instagram celebrity.

Hushpuppi was arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in connection to the case and other fraudulent schemes.

Following the announcement, some Nigerians on social media referenced Daddy Freeze’s 2019 visit to Hushpuppi’s Palazzo Versace home in Dubai saying it was only a matter of time before the FBI came after the controversial broadcaster.

‘My story’

Responding to his critics, the broadcaster explained that he was in Dubai for a Cool FM event when Hushpuppi reached out to him.

He added that he had tweeted that he was in Dubai, Hushpuppi saw his tweet and invited him for dinner.

The result of that visit was a mini-documentary and tour of Hushpuppi’s luxury home, state-of-the-art vehicles, and wardrobe posted on Daddy Freeze’s YouTube account.

In the now infamous YouTube video, Hushpuppi could be heard saying his driver collects more money in a month than a local government chairman in Nigeria.

In the same video, the broadcaster could be seen dining with Hushpuppi in his residence and mocking Nigerians who questioned Hushpuppi’s luxurious lifestyle on social media.

Questioning

Mr Olarinde in the clip said he is disappointed in Hushpuppi and added that he was not afraid of being questioned by the FBI over his relationship with the embattled Nigerian Instagram celebrity.

“You guys need to move away from this mentality that anybody that hangs out with) somebody must be collecting money from that person, I would not lie, I’m disappointed in Hushpuppi and if I see him now, I will tell him because you fed the rumours because tomorrow somebody is buying a Ferrari he must be a thief,” he said.

The 45-year-old broadcaster also said he is not afraid of being called in for questioning by the FBI as he has nothing to hide.

“Someone said Freeze dey fear, I don talk before when you no get sense you go dey talk nonsense, I don talk am say if FBI wants to question me, make them dare me I ready answer anybody question,” he said in pidgin.

“What do I have to hide? Do I have anything to hide? They will come and sit down and look at all my bank details. Let them just look…let them check all the notes I have and see if there is anything that looks like ‘Dubai money’ that can be traced to Hushpuppi, they should come, for free. It is when you have something to hide that you will be worried about. What I wanted from Hushpuppi was an interview…”

Background

When the news of Huspuppi alleged involvement in internet fraud became public knowledge, Daddy Freeze said if he knew that Hushpuppi was a criminal, he wouldn’t have hung out with him.

He also came under intense criticism online for promoting the alleged internet fraudster and has since continued to defend himself.

Addressing critics in June 2020, Daddy Freeze said he never knew Hushpuppi to be a criminal but a social media influencer and that if he knew, he wouldn’t have hung out with him.

The OAP added that he does not support fraud in any way and he would not have shot a video with Hushpuppi if he had a case in court

“I didn’t know him to be a (alleged) criminal, if I did I wouldn’t hang out with him. And unless someone is proven guilty, I do not discriminate against them because the one who taught me Christianity, the one who I follow, Christ did not discriminate against anyone,” he said.

He said, “I didn’t know him to be a criminal, if I did I wouldn’t have hung out with him. And unless someone is guilty, I do not discriminate against them because the one who taught me Christianity did not discriminate against anyone.”

Hushpuppi who boasts over 2.5 million followers on Instagram was unfollowed by some of his followers including celebrities like Davido, Tiwa Savage, Zlatan, Naira Marley, Tonto Dikeh and others shortly after his arrest.

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Hushpuppi agrees to plead guilty and could spend 20 years in jail

Ramon Abbas aka Ray Huspuppi, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to engage in money laundering and online fraud, according to latest reports in the U.S media.

Evan Ratliff who writes for Bloomberg, tweets that Hushpuppi "will face up to 20 years in prison at sentencing.

"In his plea agreement, Abbas admitted to laundering money from the Malta Bank heist and the BEC attacks on a Premier League club, another UK firm, and an American law firm, as well as additional schemes.

"Abbas' plea agreement, which involved crimes allegedly perpetrated by North Korean state sponsored hackers, was heavily redacted and many of the filings in the case remain sealed."

Hushpuppi was arrested by Dubai police on June 10, 2020, alongside 11 other members of his gang which include Olalekan Jacob Ponle aka ‘Woodberry.’

Dubai police accused the suspects of “committing crimes outside the UAE (United Arab Emirates), including money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonation, scamming individuals, banking fraud and identity theft."

He was flown to Chicago after being expelled from the UAE.

He made his initial U.S. court appearance in Chicago on July 3, 2020 and was subsequently transferred to Los Angeles for trial.

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HOW I MEET MY HUSBAND

 LADY NARRATES HOW SHE MEET HER PARTNER

When i first saw him i noticed he had a girlfriend and 

i admires how he takes care of her and respects her

i really wanted a man like that also, so i decide to go close

to his girlfriend to get update on how i can get a man like 

his boyfriend, when i git closer to her and later found out she 

was double dating. so i decided to plan for the guy to catch her

and fortunately for me the plan really worked and that was the 

end of the relationship. so i have take over what she never 

valued. today he is my husband and we have 4 kids and living 

happily.

my advice to girls always be honest with any man who loves

and cars for you. once you loose him boom another admirer will 

catch him and is over. 

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CRYPTO DECODEDHow the U.S. became the world’s new bitcoin mining hub

KEY POINTS

• The U.S. is the second-biggest mining destination on the planet, accounting for nearly 17% of all the world’s bitcoin miners.
• Prior to Beijing’s sudden crackdown, China’s mining dominance had already begun to slip. 
• Marathon Digital’s Fred Thiel expects most new miners relocating to North America to be powered by renewables or gas that is offset by renewable energy credits.

Well before China decided to kick out all of its bitcoin miners, they were already leaving in droves, and new data from Cambridge University shows they were likely headed to the United States.

The U.S. has fast become the new darling of the bitcoin mining world. It is the second-biggest mining destination on the planet, accounting for nearly 17% of all the world’s bitcoin miners as of April 2021. That’s a 151% increase from September 2020. 

“For the last 18 months, we’ve had a serious growth of mining infrastructure in the U.S.,” said Darin Feinstein, founder of Blockcap and Core Scientific. “We’ve noticed a massive uptick in mining operations looking to relocate to North America, mostly in the U.S.”

This dataset doesn’t include the mass mining exodus out of China, which led to half the world’s miners dropping offline, and experts tell CNBC that the U.S. share of the mining market is likely even bigger than the numbers indicate.

According to the newly-released Cambridge data, just before the Chinese mining ban began, the country accounted for 46% of the world’s total hashrate, an industry term used to describe the collective computing power of the bitcoin network. That’s a sharp decline from 75.5% in September 2019, and the percentage is likely much lower given the exodus underway now. 

“500,000 formerly Chinese miner rigs are looking for homes in the U.S,” said Marathon Digital’s Fred Thiel. “If they are deployed, it would mean North America would have closer to 40% of global hashrate by the end of 2022.”

The new mining mecca

America’s rising dominance is a simple case of luck meeting preparation. The U.S. has quietly been building up its hosting capacity for years.

Before bitcoin miners actually started coming to America, companies across the country made a gamble that eventually, if adequate infrastructure were in place, they would set up shop in the U.S. 

That gamble appears to be paying off.

When bitcoin crashed in late 2017 and the wider market entered a multi-year crypto winter, there wasn’t much demand for big bitcoin farms. U.S. mining operators saw their opening and jumped at the chance to deploy cheap money to build up the mining ecosystem in the States. 

“The large, publicly traded miners were able to raise capital to go make big purchases,” said Mike Colyer, CEO of digital currency company Foundry, which helped bring over $300 million of mining equipment into North America.

Companies like North American crypto mining operator Core Scientific kept building out hosting space all through the crypto winter, so that they had the capacity to plug in new gear, according to Colyer. 

“A majority of the new equipment manufactured from May 2020 through December 2020 was shipped to the U.S. and Canada,” he said.

Alex Brammer of Luxor Mining, a cryptocurrency pool built for advanced miners, points out that maturing capital markets and financial instruments around the mining industry also played a big role in the industry’s quick ascent in the U.S. Brammer says that many of these American operators were able to start rapidly expanding once they secured financing by leveraging a multi-year track record of profitability and existing capital as collateral.

Covid also played a role.

Though the global pandemic shut down large swaths of the economy, the ensuing stimulus payments that proved a boon for U.S. mining companies.

“All the money printing during the pandemic meant that more capital needed to be deployed,” explained bitcoin mining engineer Brandon Arvanaghi. 

“People were looking for places to park their cash. The appetite for large-scale investments had never been bigger. A lot of that likely found its way into bitcoin mining operations in places outside of China,” continued Arvanaghi.

Making it in America

The seeds of the U.S. migration started back in early 2020, according to Colyer. Prior to Beijing’s sudden crackdown, China’s mining dominance had already begun to slip. 

Part of the appeal is that the U.S. ticks a lot of the boxes for these migrant miners.

“If you’re looking to relocate hundreds of millions of dollars of miners out of China, you want to make sure you have geographic, political, and jurisdictional stability. You also want to make sure there are private property right protections for the assets that you are relocating,” said Feinstein.

It also helps that the U.S. is also home to some of the cheapest sources of energy on the planet, many of which tend to be renewable. Because miners at scale compete in a low-margin industry, where their only variable cost is typically energy, they are incentivized to migrate to the world’s cheapest sources of power.

Thiel expects most new miners relocating to North America to be powered by renewables, or gas that is offset by renewable energy credits.

While Castle Island Ventures founding partner, Nic Carter, points out that U.S. mining isn’t wholly renewable, he does say that miners here are much better about selecting renewables and buying offsets. 

“The migration is definitely a net positive overall,” he said. “Hashrate moving to the U.S., Canada, and Russia will mean much lower carbon intensity.”

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