A U.S. federal court has sentenced 43-year-old Nigerian national Abiola Quadri to 11 years and 3 months in prison for orchestrating a $1.3 million fraud scheme using stolen identities to claim COVID-19 unemployment and disability benefits.
Quadri, a permanent resident of Pasadena, California, used the stolen funds to finance the construction of a luxury 120-room resort, shopping mall, and nightclub in Nigeria, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a statement shared on Wednesday, ICE said Quadri submitted hundreds of fraudulent benefit applications between 2021 and 2024, withdrawing funds from ATMs before he was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in September 2024 while attempting to flee to Nigeria.
Authorities discovered he had funneled at least $500,000 overseas to fund the Oyins International resort.
He also failed to disclose his ownership of the property in court financial records.
Further investigation revealed 17 counterfeit checks worth over $3.3 million stored on his phone, along with messages negotiating fraudulent transactions. Some checks were tied to shell companies operating under aliases.
Additionally, Quadri misused his Altadena-based company, Rock of Peace—meant to provide daycare services for developmentally disabled children—to illegally obtain food-aid debit cards found during a home search.
On July 10, 2023, U.S. District Judge George H. Wu sentenced Quadri to 135 months in prison, ordering him to pay $1,356,229 in restitution and a $35,000 fine.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in January 2025.
Court documents also revealed that he gained U.S. residency through a sham marriage.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, ICE Homeland Security Investigations, and the California Employment Development Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Brown of the Major Frauds Section led the prosecution.