Ex-JSU football player pleads guilty to pandemic fraud seeking more than $1M

A former Jackson State and USC football player has pleaded guilty to illegally seeking more than $1 million in COVID-19 unemployment benefits and obtaining more than $280,000 using that fraud scheme.

Abdul-Malik McClain, 24, who most recently lived in Orange County’s Coto de Caza but is listed as being from Atlanta on the USC Athletics website, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.

McClain, a linebacker who tallied two sacks in his three seasons with the Trojans, left the school in 2020 amid a federal probe into he and his brother, fellow Trojan Munir McClain, related to fraudulently obtained benefits from California’s Employment Development Department, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Munir McClain transferred to Utah, where he caught two touchdowns last season. Abdul-Malik McClain, meanwhile, played at Jackson State in 2021 before his arrest.

“Instead of using his time at a major university to advance his athletic and academic life, this defendant took advantage of a public health emergency to fraudulently obtain government benefits,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in the release. “My office will continue to vigorously prosecute individuals who used the recent pandemic for their own unlawful ends.”

McClain, who initially faced 10 counts of mail fraud and two counts of aggregated identity theft, will be sentenced Sept. 16. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

Prosecutors said McClain “organized and assisted a group of other football players in filing fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits,” though those other players — including Munir McClain — were not mentioned in the release announcing Abdul-Malik McClain’s guilty plea.