United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that NYDIRA ADAMS, a/k/a “Nadira Adams,” a/k/a “Nadira Adams-McMillan,” pled guilty today to carrying out a scheme in which she caused federal student loan borrowers to submit documents containing misrepresentations and false statements to the U.S. Department of Education to take advantage of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. ADAMS’s scheme sought to cause the Department of Education to forgive over $5 million in federal student loan debt based on lies, misrepresentations, and falsehoods. ADAMS pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote.
“Nydira Adams marketed herself as a guru, but what she was really selling was fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Adams’s greed cost an important federal program servicing the American public over $5 million. Programs funded by taxpayers and designed to reward genuine public service cannot be treated as personal profit centers. New Yorkers and all Americans want us to make sure their tax dollars are not stolen.”
According to court filings and statements made in court proceedings:
From at least in or about March 2023 through at least in or about January 2025, Adams held herself out as the “Student Loan Default Guru” and operated a business under the same name. In reality, AdAMS used misrepresentations, false statements, and false documents to deceive the Department of Education into forgiving federal student loans issued to borrowers who paid Adams thousands of dollars for her purported services. On multiple occasions, Adams knowingly and intentionally caused applications for Department of Education relief programs to be submitted that contained falsehoods pertaining to the borrowers’ eligibility for the relief programs. Among other falsehoods, Adams claimed that one California-based borrower worked full-time at a New York-based religious institution and falsely represented that another borrower worked full-time for a public school district. Adams’s scheme resulted in an intended loss of over $5 million to the Department of Education.
Adams, 38, of Pensacola, Florida, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 60 months in prison.
The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the Department of Education Office of Inspector General – Eastern Regional Office, the New York Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Special Agents assigned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon C. Thompson is in charge of the prosecution.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the Fraud Division. The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
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