LOS ANGELES (BN24) — A Nigerian national residing in California has been sentenced to 11 years and three months in federal prison for orchestrating a $1.3 million COVID-19 benefits fraud scheme and using the stolen funds to build a luxury resort hotel, nightclub, and shopping mall in Nigeria.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, that Abiola Femi Quadri, 43, of Pasadena, was handed a 135-month prison sentence by U.S. District Judge George H. Wu. In addition to the prison term, Quadri was ordered to pay $1,356,229 in restitution and a $35,000 fine.
According to court records and ICE’s statement, Quadri submitted over 100 fraudulent applications for pandemic unemployment and disability insurance benefits using stolen identities across California and Nevada. The scheme ran from 2021 until his arrest in September 2024 at Los Angeles International Airport, where he was preparing to board a flight to Nigeria.
Authorities revealed that Quadri funneled at least $500,000 of the stolen funds overseas to finance the construction of the Oyins International, a lavish 120-room resort hotel in Nigeria that includes a nightclub, shopping mall, and other luxury amenities.
Quadri, a Nigerian citizen who gained U.S. permanent residency through what he allegedly described in private messages as a “fake wedding,” pleaded guilty in January 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Despite being under investigation, he failed to disclose his ownership of the multimillion-dollar resort in financial declarations to the court.
Investigators discovered extensive evidence of fraud, including 17 counterfeit checks worth over $3.3 million stored on Quadri’s phone. Some of these checks were made payable to shell companies registered under aliases he controlled. Messages on his phone also revealed negotiations involving the fraudulent checks.
Quadri had also been receiving payments from the state of California for providing daycare services to developmentally disabled children through his business, Rock of Peace, located in Altadena. When law enforcement searched his residence, they found misused food-aid debit cards meant for the children.
The case was jointly investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the California Employment Development Department’s Investigation Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Brown of the Major Frauds Section led the prosecution.
Quadri’s sentencing adds to a growing list of pandemic-era fraud cases that have exposed vulnerabilities in U.S. emergency benefit systems, with international implications and millions in taxpayer losses.
Credit: Punching.com
