British olympic sprinter CJ Ujah denies role in alleged cryptocurrency fraud
British sprinter and Olympian CJ Ujah has denied any role in the alleged cryptocurrency scam.
The athlete, who competed at the 2016 and 2021 Olympic Games, appeared before Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday along with nine others.
The group is accused of being part of an organized crime group linked to fraud.
The scam was said to involve phone calls to multiple victims from people purporting to be police officers and cryptocurrency companies.
Victims were reportedly tricked into sharing important security details before discovering that funds stored in their crypto wallets had been stolen.
One of the victims allegedly lost more than £300,000.
A series of coordinated search warrants were carried out in Kent, Essex and London on 29 April as part of the investigation carried out by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU).
Ujah, whose name appears on the court list as Chijindu Ujah, and eight other defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to defraud.
Another defendant, Joseph Umoru, will present his defense at a later date.
A 12-week trial has been scheduled for Chelmsford Crown Court from May 24 next year.
The next hearing will be held in the same court on September 9.
One of the co-defendants, Brandon Mingeli, denied the allegation of converting criminal property.
Mingeli pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a false identity document.
Ujah, 32, from Enfield, north London, became the fifth Briton to break the 10-second barrier in the 100m when he ran 9.96 seconds in 2014.
He won the gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay race at the world championships held in London in 2017.
He competed in the 4x100m final at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics but tested positive for two banned substances, leading to his team’s silver medal being stripped.
He was later cleared of knowingly taking prohibited substances.
The other defendants are Brandon Mingeli, 25, of Thamesmead, south-east London; Louis Richards-Miller, 24, of Greenwich, south-east London; Joseph Umoru (24), from Abbey Wood, south-east London; Adedeji Kujore, 24, of Erith, Kent; Taiwo Yusuf, 24, Kehinde Yusuf, 24, Jayden Nakayama, 25 – all from Greenwich; Samantha Gyabaa, 23, Hackney, east London; and Jami Durston, 28, from Chelmsford, Essex.
