Americans involved in botched Congo coup are egomaniacs motivated by greed, ex business partner says

An American man who was mistakenly linked to a failed coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo says the botched operation's leaders were egomaniacs driven by greed.

Benjamin Zalman-Polun, 36, was one of three American citizens seen in the central African nation on Sunday before the coup's apparent leader, former refugee in the US Christian Malanga, was shot dead.

As videos of the detained Americans surfaced online, social media users quickly began pointing the finger at businessman Cole Patrick Ducey, highlighting his past business connections to Malanga and Zalman-Polun. 

But Ducey, who currently resides in Eswatini in Africa, told DailyMail.com on Tuesday he had nothing to do with the botched mission. He says he was wrongly identified online because of LLC documents from a gold mining venture he once looked into with the pair in Mozambique.

'They're just egomaniacs, is the right way to put it - and greedy,' Ducey said when asked about the pair's motivations.

Benjamin Zalman-Polun and Christian Malanga at the Golan Spy Shop in Tel-Aviv, Israel

Despite conspiracy theories online claiming the coup was tied to the US or Israeli governments, Ducey said it's unlikely, and the way the mission ended serves as evidence.

'As far as I know they are not connected to the CIA or MOSSAD... nothing like that was behind this at all, and that's why it was so poorly organized.

'It was literally just two guys that were insecurely greedy... they were greedy and they were insecure about and it ate away at them to do all this.'

As he was following the news from Congo on Sunday, Ducey was surprised to see a social media user sharing the Mozambique LLC document to wrongly name him as one of the Americans involved in the alleged coup.

Social media users quickly began pointing the finger at businessman Cole Patrick Ducey, highlighting his business connections to the operation's leader Christian Malanga 

'Ben and Christian were on that document with me because they took me to look at mining concessions in Mozambique. Nothing panned out - I didn't do business with them. I haven't spoken to them in multiple years' Ducey told DailyMail.com. 

Ducey then contacted the social media user and asked him to take down the post, offering proof that he was not in Congo when the botched mission happened.

The businessman met Zalman-Polun when they were both students at the University of Colorado in 2006.

The two lost contact for years, until Zalman-Polun contacted Ducey in 2020 regarding a a mining opportunity in Mozambique and introduced him to Malanga.

Zalman-Polun is seen in Congo before he was detained by government forces

A US passport reportedly recovered from one of the arrested men

The trio traveled to Mozambique in 2022 to review the mining concessions, and started a limited liability corporation.

However. Ducey said they did not continue working together after creating the company.

Ducey said they never discussed the political situation in Congo or Malanga’s desire to be part of the government there. Ducey said he eventually decided not to go into business with the two men.

He said he had no contact with Malanga and Zalman-Polun in about two years and was shocked to read about their alleged involvement in a violent coup attempt.

Zalman-Polun, a Washington DC native, is a married father of three whose family lives in South Africa. 

Marcel Malanga, 21, looked terrified as he was hauled into frame ahead of the coup attempt in a video posted to Facebook by his father. HIs mother has said he is 'innocent'

In 2014, he admitted conspiracy to distribute 50 kilos or less of marijuana in DC between October 2011 and April 2012, per legal documents seen by DailyMail.com.

Zalman-Polun's passport was gleefully displayed by the victorious troops after the rebels were easily defeated. 

The alleged coup attempt began at the Kinshasa residence of Vital Kamerhe, a federal legislator and a candidate for speaker of the National Assembly of Congo. His guards killed the attackers, officials said.

Congo’s army spokesman on Tuesday released the name of the third American involved in the foiled coup, while family members in Utah gathered to mourn Malanga.

Zalman-Polun, originally from Washington D.C., is a married father-of-three 

Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge told The Associated Press the third American was Taylor Thomson. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Thomson was among those arrested or killed on Sunday morning, following the attack on the palace and another on the residence of a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi.

Malanga, described as a naturalized American by Ekenge, was killed in a shootout at the palace after resisting arrest. The State Department said it could not confirm Malanga was a U.S. citizen.

Authorities were still trying to untangle how the young man went from playing high school football in Utah to allegedly trying to unseat the leader of one of Africa’s largest countries.

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'My son is innocent,' his mother, Brittney Sawyer, wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Monday, declining to elaborate.

In a Facebook post early Monday, Sawyer angrily wrote that her son had followed his father. 'This was an innocent boy following his father. I’m so tired of all the videos being posted all over and being sent to me. God will take care of you people!'

One video that circulated on social media over the weekend showed her son alongside a bloodied white man, whose identity was unclear, both covered in dust and surrounded by Congolese soldiers. Marcel has his hands raised and a frightened look on his face.

Dino Mahtani, who worked in Congo for years as a journalist and then a political adviser to the U.N. between 2015-18, told the AP that Malanga had likely been tricked or betrayed.

'Its really difficult to imagine how 20, 30 guys thought that by storming the presidential palace when nobody is around at 4 a.m. in the morning could somehow take over the Congolese state,' he said.

Marcel Malanga, the American son of Christian Malanga, was detained in Congo after the failed operation

'It could be external plotters, but given his previous close relationship with at least one of Tshiskedi’s current military commanders, there’s some chance the plot was known about internally.'

Malanga moved to the US alongside his parents and his five siblings , according to an obituary for his dad Joseph. According to his tribute, the family lived in one of the poorest sections of the DRC capital of Kinshasa. His mother died when he was five. 

Eight years after arriving in the US, Malanga returned to his homeland in order to do military service, rising to the rank of captain by 2007. During this period, he had at least 235 soldiers under his command.

Following failed attempts at moving into politics in DRC, Malanga returned to the US in 2012 but continued to be active in the country's affairs while in exile.

Marcel appears to have had a perfectly average upbringing in the US. He graduated from Copper Hills High School in the community of West Jordan, Utah, in 2020 where he was also a star football player.

After high school, he went on to play for the Utah Islanders, a team which helps to develop players to play college football.

However, his social media is filled with references to war and images of assault weapons.

Nearly a year ago Marcel shared a picture with his father and captioned it: 'honored to have you as my earthly father. I can’t wait to change the world with you.'