Olympian who was stripped of silver medal arrested for alleged cryptocurrency fraud
Professional athletes do not just focus on their sporting careers, as they understand they will end one day, and so many look to invest in other fields to have a career once they retire.
Quite a few will look to go into coaching or punditry after their careers come to an end, while others may invest in business or begin a new profession.
However, one former Olympian’s choice of another career path has landed them in some serious trouble as they have been arrested for alleged cryptocurrency fraud.
CJ Ujah, the double British 100m champion, has been arrested for alleged cryptocurrency fraud.
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The 32-year-old has had a successful athletics career, winning several medals, including a gold at the 2017 World Championships as he ran the first leg in the 4 × 100 metres relay for Great Britain alongside Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, while also winning silver in the same event at the 2020 Olympic Games.
However, this silver medal would later be taken off him after he was found guilty of doping, and on 10 October 2022, Ujah was banned for 22 months, backdated to 6 August 2021, for unintentional use of prohibited substances by the AIU.
He has returned to action since his ban, as he reached the 100m semi-finals at the European Athletics Championships in Rome in 2024, but has not raced since April last year.
Now, Ujah is one of ten suspects arrested and later charged with conspiracy to defraud following an investigation across Kent, Essex and London.
It is alleged the suspects were part of an organised crime group linked to a scam which involved phone calls to multiple victims from people purporting to be police officers and cryptocurrency companies.
Victims are reported to have been tricked into sharing important security details, including seed phrases, before discovering funds stored in their crypto wallets had been stolen. One of the victims is alleged to have lost more than £300,000.
Brendan McGilligan