CJ Ujah has been charged in a cryptocurrency fraud investigation that police say involved 10 suspects, alleged phone scams and a loss of more than £300,000. The British sprinter was granted bail until his next hearing, leaving the case to move into Crown Court while the wider inquiry continues to test how the alleged group reached victims.
Margate Magistrates' Court hearing
10 suspects appeared at Margate Magistrates’ Court last Thursday after an investigation by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit across Kent, Essex and London. Ujah was charged with conspiracy to defraud and released on bail until 28 May, when he is due back at Chelmsford Crown Court.
£300,000 is the scale of the alleged loss tied to one victim, according to police. The suspects were said to have been part of an organised crime group, with callers purporting to be police officers and cryptocurrency companies in order to get people to share security details, including seed phrases.
Seed phrases and stolen wallets
Victims later found money missing from their crypto wallets. That sequence turns the case from a broad fraud allegation into a more specific operational warning for anyone who stores wallet access details in a form that can be copied or shared under pressure.
2022 is the year Ujah was banned for 22 months after testing positive for two prohibited substances at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, after the Athletics Integrity Unit found a contaminated beta-alanine supplement caused the positive test. He won 4x100m relay gold at the 2017 world championships, reached the 100m semi-finals at the European Athletics Championships in Rome in 2024, and has not raced since April last year.
Brandon Mingeli in custody
Brandon Mingeli was also among the 10 suspects arrested. He was remanded in custody until the crown court hearing at the end of the month, while Ujah leaves court on bail and returns under the same case at Chelmsford Crown Court on 28 May.
