A self-described ‘business tycoon’ has been ordered to pay £1.4 million after being exposed as the mastermind behind a series of massive illegal fly-tipping operations across the UK.
Varun Datta, 36, who presented himself as a ‘world-renowned’ businessman, was dubbed the ‘Bitcoin Bulldog’ amongst his associates as he purportedly possessed ‘millions’ of pounds worth of the cryptocurrency.
However, last week it came to light that the polo-playing entrepreneur from India is the head of a company which had illegally fly-tipped 4,275 tonnes of household waste at 16 sites across England, a crown court heard.
And the Environment Agency (EA) has disclosed that he must pay a substantial sum after admitting to knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited on land at Birmingham Crown Court last week (Friday 13).
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The court was told that Datta – who resides in a £5million four-bedroom mid-terrace property in Belgravia, London – became a registered waste broker through his company, Atkins Recycling Ltd, where he served as director from July 2015.
The ‘venture capitalist’ has previously portrayed himself as an ‘entrepreneur, strategist, visionary, and philanthropist’ to his 122k Instagram followers.
The reported millionaire – who studied at America’s top-ranked public college, UC Berkeley – allegedly channelled his wealth into blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, data systems, and the medical use of cannabis in the USA. In 2022, it emerged he had begun investing in cryptocurrencies back in 2014, which substantially increased his wealth, enabling him to ‘shuttle between Miami and London’ for business purposes.
However, a court was told the businessman audaciously claimed the waste handled by his company was being transported to a legitimate site at Kiveton Park, near Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
In reality, the enormous loads were being redirected to 16 unlicensed dumps scattered across eight regions of England, including historic manor houses and nature reserves. The bulk of the dumped waste consisted of mixed municipal waste, wrapped in plastic to form bales.
Sites ranged from Kent, Cambridgeshire, and Surrey to Middlesbrough, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and Rutland.
In mid-2017, a nationwide investigation was launched by the EA into the high-flyers’ activities, and enquiries led the EA to Datta’s residence in 2018, where they confiscated £131,520 in cash.
Subsequently, in 2022, a restraint order was imposed on two bank accounts to ensure that any future confiscation orders could be satisfied. He first appeared at Birmingham Magistrates Court in August 2023.
The case was later transferred to the crown court where Datta eventually pleaded guilty on 3 June 2025 – having initially entered a not guilty plea in 2023 – to illegally depositing waste between 1 January and 30 May 2017.
When sentencing Datta, Judge Paul Farrar KC, described the tycoon’s actions as “reckless”. He said: “Smell and flies were a feature at some of the illegal sites and caused a localised adverse effect to air quality.”
Judge Farrar further noted that landowners were “forced to incur substantial costs in removing the illegal waste” and “no environmental permit or valid exemption was in place at any of the sites.”
Datta has been handed a confiscation order of £1,116,432.78, representing the financial benefit he gained from knowingly facilitating illegal waste disposal.
Additionally, he was ordered to pay £100,000 in compensation – comprising £70,000 towards clean-up costs for Middlesbrough Council and £30,000 to Lancashire Wildlife Trust for the ongoing management of the Middleton Nature Reserve.
Datta must settle the confiscation order within three months, or face an 18-month custodial sentence.
He was further instructed to pay £200,000 in prosecution costs, alongside a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, 30 days’ rehabilitation and 200 hours of unpaid community work.
Two other individuals, Mohammed Saraji Bashir, 45, of Windmill Street, Peterborough, and Robert William McAllister, 55, of Iveagh Close, Northwood, London, were also convicted of offences connected to the illegal dumping.
Bashir received a four-month suspended sentence of 18 months after pleading guilty to knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited across three sites. McAllister received a £750 fine for failing to comply with the duty of care required of waste brokers, concerning controlled waste that was deposited across two sites.
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds described the firms’ actions as “shocking” and “welcomed” the penalties handed down to them.
Emma Viner, Enforcement and Investigations Manager in the Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Unit, stated that the agency is “glad to see the perpetrators brought to justice”.
Arrest warrants remain active for Sandeep Golechha, 53, of Wheatley Close, London, and Jason Newman, of no fixed abode.
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