The United States Department of Justice, on Sunday February 21, 2021, told Neusroom that an application filed by lawyers of Ramon Abass Olorunwa aka Hushpuppi to withdraw from his case would be heard today, Monday February 22, 2021.
Two criminal defense lawyers Gal Pissetzky and Vicki Podberesky have been representing the Nigerian who is standing trial in Los Angeles over an alleged conspiracy to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from Business Email Compromise (BEC) frauds and other scams. The lawyers are now asking to be taken off the case.
Neusroom correspondent emailed Thom Mzorek, spokesperson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, on Saturday February 20, 2021, to seek an update on Hushpuppi’s trial.
Mzorek wrote back and said “trial is currently set for May 4 (2021). He remains in custody.”
He added that “there is a hearing on Monday concerning his lawyers (Gal Pissetzky and Vicki Podberesky) who have asked to be taken off the case.”
Neusroom called Gal Pissetzky of Pissetzky & Berliner law firm on Sunday for comments on his plan to withdraw from the case, but he refused to comment and denied that he is withdrawing from the case despite Neusroom’s confirmation from the Department of Justice.
“I’m not going to comment on that, and you got your facts all wrong,” Pissetzky said in a telephone conversation with a Neusroom correspondent.
Vicki Podberesky has also failed to respond to an email sent by Neusroom on Sunday asking why she chose to be taken off the case.
Podberesky, who is based in Los Angeles, specialises in representing individuals in both state and federal criminal matters, as well as companies and individuals in administrative and in-house investigations.
According to information on the website of Andrues/Podberesky law firm where Podberesky is a partner, she has received numerous honours for her work in the field of criminal defense.
Podberesky received her undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1982 and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 1985.
Pissetzky, an award-winning criminal lawyer based in Chicago, also devotes his life to ‘defending the rights’ of those accused of a variety of state and federal criminal felony charges, his profile on his website read.
For over 20 years, he has been vigorously representing clients in both the state and federal court systems
In July 2020, Pissetzky told Forbes that Hushpuppi is “Absolutely not guilty of [the] charges they are accusing him of,” adding, “[Abbas] was running a legitimate business and a very legitimate Instagram account and did not take part in any scam or fraud.”
Pissetzky said “He’s an entrepreneur. He has real estate involvement … [he’s] an Instagram personality. He was promoting brands and that’s how he was very legitimately making his money.”
