Nationwide — Mohamed Coulibaly, a man from New Jersey accused of running a million-dollar investment scheme targeting former NFL players and other athletes, was found dead in a swimming pool during a welfare check. Authorities are investigating his death as investors continue seeking answers about the alleged scam.
Police discovered Coulibaly’s body on Friday at a home in Harrison Township, New Jersey, after his family requested a welfare check. Relatives had contacted authorities because they were concerned about his safety.
According to ABC 7, he was found dead weeks after a report by Barron’s identified Coulibaly as the alleged organizer of a scheme involving fake online stores. According to the investigation, athletes were offered the chance to invest in e-commerce businesses that appeared to have strong sales.
Investors were reportedly shown sales records that made the online stores appear successful. However, the report alleged that the sales figures were manually entered through the websites’ backend systems instead of reflecting actual customer purchases.
Three former NFL players claimed they lost more than $1 million combined after investing with Coulibaly. Former New York Giants linebacker Tae Crowder said he invested $500,000, including his personal savings, after being introduced to Coulibaly through a mutual connection.
Crowder said he regularly checked the online store and saw the numbers continue to increase, which made him believe the investment was performing well. However, he said the expected payouts never came, causing him and other investors to question the legitimacy of the investment.
Earlier this year, Coulibaly denied accusations that he operated a scam. He told Barron’s that the allegations came from a misunderstanding of the technology and said investors had not received payments because he had not received expected funds from a planned acquisition of his business.
Coulibaly had not faced any criminal charges related to the alleged scheme before his death. His accusers are now hoping ongoing investigations will provide more information about the allegations and what happened to their investments.