Early last year, Benjamin Zalman-Polun and Marcel Malanga sat in a West Jordan restaurant with Malanga’s close friend and described a somber picture of the current state of Congo.
They told the friend that, in the African country, women were being raped and law enforcement officers were destroying markets, according to recently unsealed charging documents, which did not identify the friend.
Then, prosecutors say, Zalman-Polun told the friend the plan — they were going to travel to Congo and take over the presidential palace, an act that he said would make them celebrated “heroes.”
Earlier that week, they had offered the friend $50,000 to join them, the documents filed in federal court in Salt Lake City state.
Now, nearly a year since their attempted coup failed, Malanga, 22; Tyler Thompson Jr., 22; and Zalman-Polun, 37, are expected to face legal proceedings in the United States after they were initially handed death sentences in Congo that were later commuted to life imprisonment, AP News has reported.
After initial hearings in New York, the three are expected to be prosecuted in Utah, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Utah, in part because the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office was involved in the investigation.
Charging documents indicate a fourth defendant, 67-year-old West Valley City resident Joseph Moesser, was not present for the attempted coup, but prosecutors say he had made preparations to be there. He was booked in Salt Lake County jail on Tuesday, according to jail records, and he made his initial appearance in federal court in Salt Lake City on Thursday afternoon, court records indicate.
All four men have been charged with conspiring to provide material support and resources, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to bomb places of government facilities, and conspiracy to kill or kidnap persons in a foreign country, among other offenses, according to federal prosecutors.
Beyond the alleged restaurant meeting, the charging documents state, much of the group’s alleged preparations were largely centered in Utah.
The charging documents say Christian Malanga — Marcel Malanga’s father, 41, who was killed during the failed coup attempt — moved from Congo to the U.S. around 1998 and lived in Salt Lake City, where Marcel Malanga was born.
Around 2006, the father returned to Congo, enlisted in the country’s military and became politically involved, the charging documents state.
After becoming the leader of the United Congolese Party, according to the documents, he started the “New Zaire Government in Exile” in 2017, and self-proclaimed himself president.
When his son visited him in Africa in 2022, the two grew closer, according to an unidentified person referenced in court documents.
The son, Marcel Malanga, lived in West Jordan and allegedly supported his father’s cause, the charging documents state. They allege he actively worked in Utah to recruit others, train with firearms, buy patches with “the flag of Zaire,” and learn how to use explosives and test drones, even attempting to attach an incendiary device on one “to light people on fire.”
Several unnamed individuals referenced in the charging documents were allegedly approached by Marcel Malanga in Utah about joining the attempted coup.
At one point, court documents state, he posted an offer on a social media platform, saying, “If you want to make $50-100k message me (warriors only).”
Thompson’s alleged role was “to operate and facilitate drone support” for the attempted coup, according to charging documents, which indicate he lived in West Jordan.
Prosecutors allege Moesser had a “long-standing relationship” with Christian Malanga, and that he took the role of designing, manufacturing and providing assembly instructions for destructive devices, as well as intending to provide sniper support for the coup, according to documents.
