A gym owner from Denny made almost £1 million by selling potentially deadly fat-burning pills from his garden shed, a court has been told.
However, Prosecutors have agreed that FBO Jamie George now only has just over £30,000 left to be seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Jamie George, now 33, was jailed for three years back in July 2023 for running what authorities described as ‘a significant manufacturing operation’ from his garden shed in Falkirk.
At the time, Stirling Sheriff Court heard how George had been filling and selling 2,4-dinitrophenol capsules all over the world.
The capsules, often referred to as DNP, contain highly toxic industrial chemicals which are used in the manufacturing of explosives and insecticide. The drug has also been linked to numerous medical conditions such as kidney and liver failure, comas, convulsions and cardiac arrests. The substance has seen a boom in popularity in recent years after being made popular by bodybuilders for its alleged weight reduction qualities.
Now, over 18 months on from his sentencing, it has been revealed that authorities have only been able to seize £31,050.31 of his £937,635.73 worth of ‘benefits’ from his illegal enterprise.
On 22 February 2025, depute fiscal Simona Gersheva said it had been agreed between prosecutors and George’s lawyers that the “benefit” he had gained from his illegal activities amounted to £937,635.73.
She said the amount available to be seized was £31,050.31. Ms Gersheva tendered the court a joint minute agreeing on these figures.
These funds were seized by Sheriff Derek Hamilton as part of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
After the hearing, which lasted less than two minutes, George, who has now been released from prison, avoided a reporter’s questions.
Asked, “You made nearly a million pounds from crime, but you’re paying back only £30,000, have you anything to say?”, George merely shook his head, shrugged, and walked away. James Moncrieff, prosecuting the case in 2023, said at the time that taking DNP put users at “high risk” of kidney failure, liver failure, coma, convulsions, and cardiac arrest.
The court heard that in June 2018, officers from Food Standards Scotland, acting on intelligence, raided George’s then home in McNee Place, Redding, Falkirk armed with a warrant. Mr Moncrieff said: “The floor, walls and contents of the garden shed were all heavily contaminated and stained with a yellow powder.”
They found equipment including disposable gloves, a capsule filling machine capable of turning out 100 pills at a time, 10,000 empty capsule shells, nearly £1500 in cash, and scores of completed Royal Mail Special Delivery slips.
Investigations showed George had been posting supplies to customers as far afield as Asia, Australia and the USA from Laurieston Post Office, Falkirk, where he was a regular customer, as well as more locally, to fitness fans who met him through his gym or internet chat rooms.
. He was arrested in October 2018 after a further raid on his home in Denny. He told police he was aware that DNP was classified as a poison and was not safe for human consumption, and he was aware of the dangers of taking it including that the lethal dose is not known.
The court was told that the accounts of the Muscle Hut showed it had an annual turnover of £235,00. Mr Moncrieff said: “A large proportion of that turnover is business related to supplements, and although a proportion of that is DNP, it is unclear how much.”
Another analysis identified the receipt of £50,000 of “suspicious money” over a one year period, though again how much of that was from DNP is unclear. George, a father of three, of Denny, pleaded guilty culpable and reckless endangerment of life, by supplying the pills over a four year period between May 1, 2017, and October 8, 2021, from three properties in Falkirk including his two homes.
He was detained after a major criminal probe involving the Food Standards Scotland (FSS), Police Scotland and Falkirk Council, including a 2021 investigation by undercover police.
When he imposed the 37 month jail term, Sheriff Hamilton said George had continued in his activities after he had been told that the pills could have fatal consequences. He said: “You were well aware of the dangers of DNP. You took no notice of that and continued your trade. All the evidence points to your gain being very significant.
“You knew some years ago of the dangers of DNP, but even with that knowledge, you continued to put people’s lives at risk.” At least 33 people in the UK two of them in Scotland are said to have died after taking dinitrophenol.
