Authorities in New Jersey are investigating the death of Mouhamed Coulibaly after police said the 24-year-old’s body was found Friday in the swimming pool of a home in Harrison Township, New Jersey, during a welfare check. Family members had called with concerns about his well-being.
The death lands at the center of a case that had already put Coulibaly under scrutiny for a fake e-commerce scheme aimed at former NFL players. Weeks earlier, a Barron's investigation named him as the organizer of a purported fraud built around bogus web stores, and three former NFL players later said they collectively lost more than $1 million.
For one of them, the losses were personal and total. Tae Crowder, a former New York Giants linebacker, said he came into contact with Coulibaly through a friend and put all of his savings, $500,000, into one of the web stores. He said he would log in often to watch the store’s numbers and felt more comfortable as he saw Coulibaly around people he knew. Crowder also said he wants anyone else tied up in the matter to come forward and make it right.
The alleged mechanics of the scheme were built on appearances. Jacob Adelman said athletes and other investors were shown sales logs that made the web stores look like they were doing strong business, but the transactions were manually entered by someone with access to the backend. The point, he said, was to persuade buyers that they were investing in successful online shops rather than empty storefronts.
Coulibaly had pushed back on that account earlier this year. He denied to Barron's that he was behind any scam and said the reporting reflected a misunderstanding of the technology, adding that investors had not received returns because he had not received expected funds from a planned acquisition of his venture.
That denial now sits beside an unresolved death and an unresolved money trail. Authorities have not said how Coulibaly died, and no criminal charges had been filed connected to the alleged scheme. For the former players who say they lost more than $1 million, the investigation has shifted from whether they were deceived to whether they will ever see a legal answer at all.
