Last year, rolling out reported the story of Saudia Shuler, a Philadelphia mother who threw an extravagant prom party for her son. She wanted to give him a trip to the desert kingdom of Dubai, known to be a sought-after travel destination for wealthy tourists but decided on another option. Instead of sending her son on the trip, she decided to bring a taste of Dubai to her North Philadelphia neighborhood.
Shuler spent an estimated $25K to ship in three tons of sand, a camel, caterers and commissioned a large mural that took over the block for her son’s prom send-off. The mom also rented a Lamborghini, Range Rover and Rolls-Royce for her son to take his three dates, all dressed in custom designer gowns, to his prom. Her son wore three different outfits for each of his dates.
This year, she threw a Black Panther-themed prom send-off for her son, complete with a real Black Panther in attendance. Many wondered how she could afford such extravagance since she suffered a stroke and had been on disability payments since 2014, according to “ABC News Philly.”
Now Shuler is in big trouble and is being charged with disability and wire fraud by the government. Deputy Chief of Health Care Fraud Beth Leahy told the media, “There’s evidence she defrauded the government and no matter who you are the government brings charges. … When asked about the quality of life she said that she couldn’t, rarely cook any meals and that her cousin cooked for her. In reality, Ms. Shuler was running a food take-out business for Country Cookin.”
Now the single mom is facing as much as 140 years in prison and repayment of disability funds to the government. According to Shuler’s attorney, Tariq El-Shabazz, the charges are not true. He goes on to state, “Ms. Shuler suffered from a stroke and as a result of that she was in rehab and unable to do anything for two-plus years around the same time she was allegedly perpetrating this particular fraud.”
