Ex-USC linebacker Abdul-Malik McClain of Orange County dodges prison in COVID benefits scheme

Former USC linebacker Abdul-Malik McClain was sentenced Tuesday to time already served and ordered to pay $228,995 in restitution for his role in a scheme that fraudulently sought more than $1 million in COVID-related unemployment benefits.

McClain, 26, recently of Coto de Caza in Orange County, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II to serve two years’ supervised release. He pleaded guilty in June 2024 to one count of felony mail fraud, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

McClain, who played at USC from 2018-20 and then transferred to Jackson State, was charged five years ago with multiple counts of mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.

McClain, who was playing for USC during the scheme in 2020, organized and assisted a group of other players in filing fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits, including under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program established by Congress in response to the pandemic’s economic fallout, papers filed in L.A. federal court show.

The indictment states that the claims contained bogus information about the football players’ supposed prior employment, pandemic-related job loss, and job-seeking efforts in California.

False statements in applications filed with the state’s unemployment insurance benefits program led the California Employment Development Department to authorize Bank of America to mail debit cards to the football players.

Those debit cards were loaded with hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits, which the recipients used to make cash withdrawals at automated teller machines and to fund personal expenses, prosecutors said.

In some cases, McClain sought and obtained a cut for helping others file fraudulent applications, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

McClain and others also filed applications in their own names, in the names of other friends and associates, and in the names of identity theft victims, court papers say.

The DOJ believes McClain 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 more than $1 million in benefits and led the EDD to pay out at least $227,736.

“When the university learned of this matter in September 2020, we notified law enforcement and have been fully cooperating with authorities,” USC said in a statement when McClain was charged in 2021.

Before attending USC, McClain played prep football for JSerra High in Rancho Santa Margarita.