By Alfred Olufemi PREMIUMTIMES
Against court records, Gal Pissetzky, the top Chicago lawyer hired to defend Ramon Abbas, who is facing wired fraud charges in the United States, has insisted that he remains his attorney in Los Angeles.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Mr Abbas, popularly addressed as Hushpuppi, had settled for a government lawyer after his case has been transfered to another district on Wednesday.
Court records showed that Mr Abbas’s case has been transferred to the Central District of California for prosecution.
Moreover, in the commitment letter sent to California, Mr Abbas refused to retain Mr Pissetzky as his attorney. Rather, he requested that a court-appointed counsel be assigned to him.
Reacting to PREMIUM TIMES’s report, Mr Pitsetssky said the court order obtained by this paper is not correct even when a signed copy was sent to him.
“I am still and will continue to represent Mr. Abbas in California,” he said in response to enquiries sent to him.
Commenting on the decision contained in the court order, Mr Pitsetssky stated that the choice was not made by his client.
“The reason the court Order states that he wishes to have an appointed lawyer is because it is usual practice to mark this box.No one asked Mr. Abbas what box to mark, and it was automatically marked. I am Mr. Abbas lawyer. He will not have a court appointed lawyer.”
This paper cannot verify Mr Pissetzky’s claims from the defendant because he is currently in prison.
Mr Abbas, 37, who was resident in Dubai and known for flaunting extravagant lifestyle on social media, was arrested last month over wire fraud allegations and extradited to the U.S on July 3.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation had earlier alleged that Mr Abbas was part of a network that made “hundreds of millions of dollars” from business email compromise frauds and other scams.
Also, the American government said Mr Abbas funded his extravagant lifestyle with stolen money.
If convicted, he could spend the next 20 years in U.S. federal prison.
