Former USC football player Abdul-Malik McClain accepted a plea deal for his role in allegedly orchestrating a scheme from July 2020 to September 2020 that sought to claim more than $1 million in fraudulent COVID-related unemployment benefits from the California Department of Employment Development.
McClain, according to a copy of the plea agreement obtained by The Times, will plead guilty to one count of felony mail fraud.
McClain, who played at USC from 2018 to 2020, was arrested in December 2021 and charged with 10 counts of mail fraud and two counts of identity theft for allegedly submitting fraudulent claims on behalf of USC football players under the program. of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which was established during the pandemic to provide help to those who did not qualify for standard unemployment benefits.
At the time, McClain pleaded not guilty and was released on $20,000 bail. But a month before his trial, McClain accepted a plea deal, with a hearing scheduled for June 17. As part of his plea, McClain must pay restitution and could face significant prison time. The maximum legal sentence for felony mail fraud is 20 years, but federal sentencing guidelines suggest 70 to 87 months in prison.
The original indictment cited 36 fraudulent claims for PUA benefits that McClain filed or helped file and that were made on behalf of teammates, friends and others whose identities were stolen as part of the scheme. As part of his plea agreement, McClain admitted his role as a “leader or organizer” of the scheme, which used claimants' names and Social Security numbers to knowingly submit PUA claims containing false employment information. , all with the intention of fraudulently obtaining Bank of America Debit Cards.
Some of those debit cards were sent to addresses to which McClain had direct access. In other cases, McClain received direct payment from those who received the EDD debit card.
McClain and his co-defendants, none of whom were identified in the original indictment or plea agreement, sought $1,056,092 in EDD benefits as part of the scheme, but ultimately received about $283,063.
McClain left USC in November 2020 after his brother, Munir, was suspended indefinitely from the USC football team in September 2020 amid complaints that he was approaching USC football players with a scheme. to apply for EDD benefits. Abdul-Malik McClain was never suspended.
Both Munir and Abdul-Malik McClain confirmed to The Times in October 2020 that they received benefits from the PUA program. That fall, several USC football players were contacted at their campus residences about the plan. Some were given subpoenas to appear before a grand jury.
At the time, during several interviews with The Times, the McClain family remained adamant that neither brother had done anything wrong.
