Society Gists

Mo Abudu’s EbonyLife TV, Universal Pictures, and Will Packer Productions have received the adaptation rights for a movie on Ramon Abass, also known as Ray Hushpuppi.

The production houses have decided to do a movie on the International fraudster, based on a Bloomberg story, “The Fall of the Billionaire Gucci Master.”

According to The Hollywood Reporters, an untitled action thriller movie project has been set up at Universal Pictures, following the collection of the adaptation rights for the movie.

The movie will be based on a Bloomberg story by Evan Ratiff which detailed how Hushpuppi carried out an internet scam and how he was caught by International police.

When the project is ready, Mo Abudu will produce for EbonyLife Studios while Will Packer Productions and Abudu will produce for EbonyLife Studios.

Will Packer Productions is known for producing popular movies like Girls Trip and Night School.

“Ten months ago Mo pitched us a rich and entertaining concept steeped in Nigerian culture that can only be told with the help of her unique perspective. Together we knew Evan’s work was the definitive telling and the perfect anchor of this saga,” Will Packer said in a  understand the environment of poverty and deprivation that breeds highly talented and fundamentally flawed characters like Hushpuppi, and WPP knows how to create stories with global appeal,” Abudu added in her own statement.

Hushpuppi, who attracted millions of followers with pictures of a glamorous jet-setting lifestyle was arrested June 2020 by Dubai police amid claims of a £350m cyberscam.

He is being detained as part of an investigation into money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking and scamming.

Eleven other suspects were detained during the coordinated early morning raids in an operation comprised of officers from the FBI, Interpol and Dubai police. Detectives seized more than 150 million dirham (£30 million) when they swooped on his Dubai apartment as he slept.

Investigators allege that Hushpuppi, a former second-hand clothes trader in Lagos, used his Instagram account to project a billionaire’s luxurious lifestyle to attract followers and lure in potential victims.

Officers say they found the email addresses of nearly two million victims on dozens of phones, computers and hard drives. More than a dozen luxury cars were seized in the raid along with suitcases full of cash.