Hushpuppi Laundered $400, 000 in Stimulus Cards From in Prison

Hushpuppi

On Wednesday, US prosecutors handed documents to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California including new evidence indicting Hushpuppi of fraud and money laundering at a US Federal detention institution. According to court records, Hushpuppi engaged in the acquisition and washing of Economic Impact Payment (EIP) debit cards obtained unlawfully from stolen data of US citizens and residents while incarcerated in a US Federal correctional institution.

According to the CARES Act, EIP is financial assistance provided by the US government to US residents. Debit cards are one method through which qualified US residents get their EIP. According to the materials produced in court, hackers utilize data from US citizens to register for and get EIP debit cards. They sell these EIP cards to other cyber criminals in underground marketplaces.

According to the court statement, convicts have restricted access to phone calls, video conversations, the internet, and computers, but they are not monitored since inmates have the right to privacy. Hushpuppi, like the other detainees, was granted this access.

However, security officers at a US Federal correctional facility observed Hushpuppi using the internet more frequently between the 28th of January and the 4th of March 2022. They obtained a warrant to record Hushpuppi's activities after learning that he had been arrested for internet-related crimes. A special system was put up for him, and his activities were tracked for seven days.

Hushpuppi was discovered to be aggressively purchasing EIP debit cards from an underground cyber criminal marketplace. Hushpuppi purchased 58 EIP debit cards worth $429,800 on the site while being filmed and laundered the money via one AJ.

Source: Mathilde Salome Bonnet