This time last year, US citizens Tyler Thompson and Marcel Malanga were just a couple of friends in their 20s throwing a football around Salt Lake City in Utah.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But today, they sit behind bars in the US, where they face life in prison for allegedly conspiring to overthrow a foreign government.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So how did teammates from the “Mormon state” end up entangled with rebel forces in an attack on the presidential palace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)? \u00a0<\/p>\n
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Tyler Thompson and Marcel Malanga on the day they were extradited. (ABC: X\/Pr\u00e9sidence RDC)<\/p>\n
A botched coup<\/p>\n
On May 19, 2024, armed men wearing camouflage uniforms stormed the Palace of the Nation in DRC, as well as <\/strong>the home of the president, which was left riddled with bullet holes.\u00a0<\/p>\n The attack was recorded and live streamed on social media by Christian Malanga, who ditched his life as a used car dealer and gold miner in the US to become the self-styled leader of a DRC government-in-exile.<\/p>\n Christian Malanga, who died along with five other people in the firefight, had described himself on his website as a refugee who settled in the US with his family in the 1990s.<\/p>\n Among those rounded up in the aftermath of the failed coup was his 22-year-old son, Marcel Malanga.<\/p>\n Christian Malanga, left, and Marcel Malanga in military-style uniforms in January 2024.\u00a0 (AP: US Department of Justice)<\/p>\n Three tickets to trouble<\/p>\n Marcel Malanga had arrived in the DRC the previous month.\u00a0<\/p>\n With him was a former high school friend and football teammate, Tyler Thompson, 22.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thompson’s family thought he was on a free vacation, with all expenses paid by Christian Malanga.<\/p>\n But the itinerary included more than sightseeing.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n The three men at the beginning of their trial last year.\u00a0 (Reuters: Photo\/Justin Makangara)<\/p>\n Thompson, who was travelling outside the US for the first time, thought Christian Malanga was a president of an African country, although he was unsure which one.<\/p>\n A third man from Utah, Benjamin Zalman-Polun, 37, who connected with both Thompson and Marcel Malanga in the US before the attack, is reported to have known Christian Malanga through a gold mining company.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thompson, Marcel Malanga and Zalman-Polun, who are all US citizens, were captured by DRC government officials shortly after the attack, and accused of aiding, and spending months plotting, the strike.<\/p>\n Marcel Malanga, who allegedly acted as a leader of the rebel forces, claimed his father had threatened to kill him and his friends if they did not obey his orders.\u00a0<\/p>\n Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, left, Marcel Malanga and Tyler Thompson in court in September. (AP: Photo\/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)<\/p>\n ‘Warriors only’<\/p>\n Three months before the attack, Marcel Malanga tried to recruit soldiers by posting a message on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n “If you want to make $50-100k message me (warriors only),” the post said.<\/p>\n Social media post in February from Marcel Malanga.\u00a0 (US Department of Justice)<\/p>\n Thompson, who was not paid, was the only friend to accept the offer, although other football teammates from Salt Lake City alleged Malanga had asked them to join him on a “security job” in DRC.<\/p>\n In the lead-up to the attack, Malanga, who lived with Thompson in his family’s home, also posted pictures of guns and wrote he may be preparing for war.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also uploaded photos of guns to social media and wrote “war ready” in one of his posts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Marcel Malanga posted a series of photos of guns on his social media.\u00a0 (US Department of Justice)<\/p>\n Thompson maintained he had no knowledge of Christian Malanga’s intentions.<\/p>\n But court documents allege he was the group’s drone specialist, acquiring drones in the US, and planning to mount flamethrowers on them and use them to light people on fire.<\/p>\n A long-running FBI investigation accused the men of conspiring to provide weapons, explosives and other support to a rebel army.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rebecca Higbee is the mother of Tyler Thompson.\u00a0 (AP: Photo\/Rick Bowmer)<\/p>\n What were they charged with?<\/p>\n The three Americans initially faced the death penalty in DRC after being found guilty of terrorism, murder, criminal association and illegal possession of weapons, among other charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n But their sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment before they were transferred to US custody on April 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n The trio were shackled, masked and flown back to the US wearing their blue and yellow prison uniforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tyler Thompson boarding his plane back to the US.\u00a0 (ABC: X\/Pr\u00e9sidence RDC)<\/p>\n They now face charges including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, bomb government facilities and conspiracy to kill or kidnap persons in a foreign country.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The defendants planned, scouted out targets, and identified victims for the Armed Coup Attack, with the purpose and intent to murder other persons, including high-level DRC government officials,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n court documents said.<\/p>\n “They recruited others to join in the Armed Coup Attack as personnel for the rebel army and, in some cases, recruited personnel in exchange for money.”<\/p>\n Marcel Malanga’s mother, Brittney Sawyer, has since said her son was innocent and was simply following his father.\u00a0<\/p>\n Marcel Malanga, fourth from right, waits to hear the verdict in September. (AP: Photo\/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)<\/p>\n What happens next?<\/p>\n The three men have denied any wrongdoing, and are expected to make their first US court appearance in Brooklyn, New York, although it is unclear on what date.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prosecutors are seeking to keep them in jail as the case moves forward.<\/p>\n “The four defendants pose an extreme danger to the community and present an unmanageable risk of flight,” the Justice Department said in a detention memo.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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