The Justice Department issued the following statement.
A college football player was taken into custody this morning on federal charges alleging he orchestrated a scheme that fraudulently sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-related unemployment benefits.
Abdul-Malik McClain, 22, who currently attends school in Jackson, Mississippi, surrendered to federal law enforcement this morning in Los Angeles before being arraigned this afternoon in United States District Court.
A federal grand jury indictment returned on December 16 and unsealed this afternoon charges McClain with 10 counts of mail fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. McClain, who was residing in Los Angeles in 2020 during the alleged scheme, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and was ordered released on a $20,000 bond.
According to the indictment, while a member of his university’s football team, McClain organized and assisted a group of other football players in filing fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits, including under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program established by Congress in response to the pandemic’s economic fallout. The indictment alleges that the claims – which were filed with the California Employment Development Department (EDD), the administrator of the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) benefit program – contained false information about the football players’ supposed prior employment, pandemic-related job loss, and job-seeking efforts in California.
The indictment alleges that the false statements in the UI applications led EDD to authorize Bank of America to mail debit cards to the football players. Those debit cards were loaded with at least hundreds of dollars, and sometimes thousands of dollars, in unemployment benefits, which the recipients used to make cash withdrawals at ATMs and to fund personal expenses. In some cases, McClain sought and obtained a cut for helping others file fraudulent UI applications.
McClain and his co-schemers also allegedly filed applications in their own names, in the names of other friends and associates, and in the names of identity theft victims. According to the indictment, these claims also falsely stated that the claimants were self-employed workers, including athletic trainers and tutors, who had lost work in California as a result of the pandemic. These allegedly false claims also induced EDD to authorize Bank of America to issue debit cards in the names of the claimants. The indictment alleges that McClain and his co-schemers caused those cards to be mailed to addresses where they could collect the mail.
McClain allegedly caused at least three dozen fraudulent applications to be filed with EDD during the summer of 2020. According to the indictment, those fraudulent applications sought at least $903,688 in PUA benefits and led the EDD to pay out at least $227,736.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
During today’s arraignment, McClain was ordered to stand trial on February 15.
Each mail fraud count carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. The aggravated identity theft counts carry a two-year mandatory prison sentence consecutive to any sentence imposed on the mail fraud counts.
The FBI; the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General; the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; and the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General investigated this matter. The university, called “University 1” in the indictment, cooperated in this investigation.
Assistant United States Attorney Kerry L. Quinn of the Major Frauds Section is prosecuting this case.
28 comments:
That certainly was nice that they waited until after the bowl game to arrest him. I am glad to see that this administration sees the importance of football games.
Tip of the iceberg.
Feds? Shit, it’s over baby.
AIG, World Com, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Madoff, Enron, Express Grain, now this whipper snapper...Good reason for Prime Time to bolt to FSU.
Will he get some NIL Money for his mug shot???
But Coarch Prime said "don't overlook Jackson State!"...
There is no telling how many billions if not trillions of tax payer dollars have been pissed away in the name of Covid relief.
I really HATE to say this and I will echo another poster here.........TIP OF THE ICEBERG and it runs far and wide across the country.
Mo money$$ Mo money$$ Mo money$$
How many billions got paid out last year fraudulently? These schemes know no race, creed or party. Money was coming out of Washington like a fire hose.
We just keep making the news one way or another. May be able to improve on this during his Federal stint. Sure they have a team he can play for.
Prime goeth before a fall.
The California Unemployment Pay scheme is one of the biggest frauds that occurred last year.
Why do so many people want to stick their hand out rather than work?
He will also lose his right to vote over this.
@9:58am - Funny you say last year, which was 2020. The beloved lord and savior DJT was pres and signed off on a majority of this free money (along with all the free money back to corporations in 2017). Good times.
@11:03
Why are we required to work?
Do you look at a non working heir to a fortune earned by war profiteering as somehow more virtuous?
@10:23 Am
Get off Deion's nuts
The transfer portal giveth and the transfer portal taketh away. A wise old coach once cautioned about checking the baggage before you accept strange visitors into your home. Live and learn Coach Sanders.
179 billion, I repeat billion of PPE money went overseas.
Chew on that a little while.
Move on. Nothing to see here. Just more of the many thousands, nay hundreds of thousands, who lined up to take advantage of this budget busting Democratic give-away, without any intent to control, New Deal program.
Yes, the 'intent' was good; government shut down many businesses and they tried to respond with an appropriate remedy. But the expansion of unemployment to those that were not in the 'employment system'; i.e. those paying unemployment taxes but anyone who claimed that they were working but just not paying taxes could qualify. No questions asked.
Yes, this perp went beyond that and stole additonal names and SSN's. And tried to help his friends do the same (for a small commission, of course.) But the real problem, besides these crooks, is that the intent of the program was to pour money into the economy -- just like the so-called 'child care credit' program to reduce child poverty -- and buy those votes for all future elections. Following in the footsteps of FDR and LBJ, but in Biden's case he ignored any process other than blanket sending checks.
This perp (only of recent JSU heritage, nee USC) is a tip of the iceburg with his two hundred thousand dollars stolen. Too bad that there are many more. Hell, even better return on investment for most than Lamar Adams and his timber boys.
Im sure this is just a small fish in the pond to take money. I am sure the rich have taken plenty and will not be prosecuted. Another case of classism.
10:17, this crime happened under Trump. Not Brandon.
Son, read. "McClain, a former USC player, allegedly orchestrated the scheme alongside his former Trojans teammates back in 2020."
As much as I detest Brandon, the money give away included many many Mississippians, not all of whom qualified. In fact, businesses mentioned here who stand accused of crimes took the PPP money too. And it was "forgiven." That's right, most Mississippians got Covid Welfare, but now stand here wagging tongues.
PPP was under TRUMP, not Biden.
Think before you post.
11:30 : 300,000 grand makes him upper middle class. Lol.
McClain transferred from USC to Jackson State University in December 2020. This all happened prior to his transfer. We all know that with a Federal Investigation there was NO way that Coach Sanders nor the University would have known this investigation was going on. The indictment was just handed down December 16, 2021. I'm sure there are plenty more indictments coming right here in Mississippi.
Does Jackson State have to forfeit each game in which he played?
The fact of the matter is that 9 TRILLION DOLLARS in Covid Welfare money worldwide went to the world's Billionaires and Trillionaires. Not to the middle class and Upper middle class, who pay taxes for it. Look at the reports. The Rich Get Richer, and the Middle Class Becomes the Poor.
Look it up. The rich GAINED 9 Trillion in Wealth from the Central Bankers.
Go to ProPublica and look at the latest reports of PPP Money. Search your zip code or names for all the folks here driving new cars, remodeling their houses, buying vacation homes, and getting that "free" PPP money. The names are there, even down to 1000 dollars, not just the 150K up "loans" first reported. All "forgiven."
When your big boss reports he's down at the new condo, while you are in bankruptcy, you'll know why. Ka Ching! And, both parties did this, but it was the BIGGEST "transfer" of wealth in world history. To the already Rich.
This kid is just a dumb one that DOJ could catch. How many Miss. businesses LIED their behinds off in PPP? With the Miss. banks ADVERTISING on billboards for more "Free" money to them in Round 2??
Bank robbery of the taxpayer by the banks and GubMint. Yet again. a thousand times worse than the Hurricane GoZone crap going to buy condos at Oxford and Tuscaloosa. We'll never pay these Chinese loans off.
For the Let’s Go Brandon folks saying he took advantage of the democrats giving away money. This happened in the summer of 2020 under the Trump give aways.
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