In Harrison Township, New Jersey, authorities have launched an investigation into the death of a man accused of orchestrating a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme aimed at ex-NFL players and other athletes.
The probe centers around Mohamed Coulibaly, who was purportedly behind a sophisticated ruse that duped numerous retired football players through a deceptive online sales operation.
According to law enforcement, on Friday, the 24-year-old was discovered unconscious in a swimming pool at a Harrison Township residence. Family members, concerned for his safety, had requested a wellness check from police, leading to the grim discovery.
This revelation follows closely on the heels of a Barron’s exposé that identified Coulibaly as the architect of an alleged scam, which involved luring sports stars into investing in non-existent e-commerce ventures.
“Former athletes and other financers were buying into these online shops, which appeared to be thriving based on manipulated sales figures they were shown,” explained Jacob Adelman from Barron’s magazine. “We realized that someone with access to the back-end was fabricating those sales transactions to make investors believe their capital was yielding profitable returns.”
Three former NFL players said they collectively lost more than $1 million in investments made with Coulibaly.
“Weeks and then months went by, and Muhammad always had a different excuse for why he wasn’t paying them. And finally, they realized they were potentially being scammed,” Adelman said.
Former New York Giants linebacker Tae Crowder says he became a victim after connecting with Coulibaly through a friend.
“We was just, every day, talking about different investments and different things we could possibly get into. I saw him hanging out with a bunch of different guys that I know, which you know made me feel comfortable,” Crowder said.
Crowder invested all of his savings – totaling $500,000 – in one of Coulibaly’s web stores.
“I would log into the store all the time and just see, like, how it would work and what was going on. I feel like the more I told him about that, like, as many times I kept logging in, the number started going up,” Crowder added.
But his promised payout never came.
“I don’t want anybody else to get involved in anything like this, and whoever has got involved, I just want to come together and make it right,” Crowder said.
Earlier this year, Coulibaly denied to Barron’s that he was behind any kind of scam, saying that their reporting was, “Based on a misunderstanding of the technology and that his investors hadn’t received returns from their deals because he himself hadn’t received expected funds from a planned acquisition of his venture.”
So far, no criminal charges have been filed connected to the alleged scheme, but Coulibaly’s accusers are now hoping they can get some long-awaited resolution.
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