British Olympic sprinter CJ Ujah has been charged alongside nine others in a large-scale cryptocurrency fraud investigation led by the UK's Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU). Authorities allege the suspects were part of an organized crime group that used impersonation calls to trick victims into revealing their crypto wallet seed phrases.
The coordinated raids took place at 6 AM on April 29 across Kent, Essex, London, and Wakefield. All ten individuals were subsequently charged with conspiracy to defraud and appeared before Margate Magistrates’ Court the following day. Among those remanded in custody until the next hearing on May 28 are Ujah's co-defendants, including fellow British athlete Brandon Mingeli, while Ujah and six others were released on bail.
The scam relied entirely on social engineering: callers posed as police officers or representatives of cryptocurrency companies and pressured victims into sharing their wallet recovery phrases. Once the seed phrase was obtained, the criminals drained the wallets. Police confirmed that one victim lost more than £300,000 in the scheme. The exact cryptocurrencies stolen were not disclosed.
Ujah, 32, rose to fame as part of Great Britain’s 4x100-meter relay gold at the 2017 World Championships—Usain Bolt’s final race. He later served a 22-month doping ban that cost the team its Tokyo Olympics silver medal, though he was eventually cleared of intentional doping. Ujah returned to competition in 2024 but has not raced since April 2025.
ERSOU, supported by Kent Police, the City of London Police, the Metropolitan Police, and the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit, warned the public that no legitimate company or police officer will ever ask for a seed phrase and urged anyone receiving such a call to hang up and verify independently.
