What started as a COVID-19 relief scam in the United States ended in a federal courtroom this week, with a Nigerian man, Abiola Femi Quadri, sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for a scheme that siphoned $1.3 million meant for struggling Americans.
On Thursday, July 10, 2025, U.S. District Judge George H. Wu handed down a 135-month prison sentence to Quadri, 43, who lived in Pasadena, California. The court also ordered him to pay back the full $1.36 million in restitution, plus a $35,000 fine.
The crime, officials say, was elaborate—and deeply troubling.
Quadri submitted over 100 fraudulent unemployment and disability applications during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the stolen identities of unsuspecting victims in California and Nevada. He then collected benefits under those names, pulling cash from ATMs between 2021 and his arrest in September 2024 at the Los Angeles International Airport. He was about to board a flight to Nigeria when federal agents closed in.
Court records reveal that Quadri, who gained U.S. residency through what he privately admitted was a “fake wedding,” funneled at least $500,000 overseas. The funds helped finance a luxury project in Nigeria—a 120-room resort called Oyins International, complete with a nightclub, mall, and high-end amenities. He did not disclose his ownership of the hotel when asked to provide financial statements to the court.
Authorities said this wasn’t a one-off mistake—it was part of a calculated pattern.
Inside Quadri’s phone, investigators discovered images of 17 fake checks totaling over $3.3 million, and text conversations about how to cash or “negotiate” them. Several of the checks were linked to shell companies registered under aliases he used. In one shocking twist, the court learned that Quadri had even been paid by the State of California to provide daycare services for children with developmental disabilities—only for agents to later find misappropriated food-aid debit cards meant for those same children in his home.
The case was investigated by a coalition of agencies, including the United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the California Employment Development Department (EDD).
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Brown of the Major Frauds Section led the prosecution, describing Quadri’s actions as “an exploitation of emergency relief systems during a time of national crisis.”
As he begins his sentence in federal prison, Quadri’s story now serves as a stark reminder of how pandemic-era fraud continues to unravel—and how justice, though delayed, is still being served.
