Jackson State’s Abdul-Malik McClain Arrested, Charged With COVID-19 Relief Fraud

Jackson State football player Abdul-Malik McClain was arrested in Los Angeles earlier this week on charges of fraud relating to COVID-19 unemployment money.

McClain, 22, pleaded not guilty to being the ringleader of a scheme that raked in at least $227,736 in unemployment payments. He was released on a $20,000 bond and ordered to stand trial on February 15.

The school has since removed McClain’s bio page from its athletics website. He’s charged with 10 counts of mail fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft that occurred while he was a member of the Southern Cal football team — he transferred to Jackson State last December.

Each mail fraud count carries a maximum 20-year federal prison sentence; the aggravated identity theft counts carry a two-year minimum.

McClain’s accused of causing “at least three dozen” fraudulent applications to be filed with the California Employment Development Department during the summer of 2020. The fraudulent applications sought at least $903,688 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits.

“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,” a press release states. “The indictment alleges that the claims contained false information about the football players’ supposed prior employment, pandemic-related job loss, and job-seeking efforts in California.”

The claims led to the authorization of Bank of America to mail debit cards to the claimants in their names.

“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,” according to the release. “In some cases, McClain sought and obtained a cut for helping others file fraudulent UI applications.”

McClain appeared in one game this season, recording three tackles against Louisiana-Monroe on September 18.