£1.4m fine for company 'tycoon' who dumped waste at this Lancashire nature reserve
A self-proclaimed 'business tycoon' has been ordered to pay £1.4 million after he was exposed as being behind a series of huge illegal rubbish dumps across the UK - including two sites in Lancashire.
Varun Datta, 36, who claimed to be a 'world-renowned' businessman, was known as the 'Bitcoin Bulldog' among his peers as he allegedly held 'millions' of pounds worth of the cryptocurrency.
But last week it emerged the polo-playing mogul from India is the boss of a firm which had illegally dumped 4,275 tonnes of household rubbish at 16 locations across England, a crown court was told.
Lancashire sites
They include Middleton Nature Reserve in Heysham and Rhyddings Mill, Stonebridge Lane, Oswaldtwistle.
And the Environment Agency (EA) has revealed he has to pay a significant sum after pleading guilty to knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited on land at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, February 13.
£5m Belgravia home
The court heard that Datta - who lives in a £5million four bedroom mid terraced home in Belgravia, London - became a registered waste broker through his company, Atkins Recycling Ltd, where he was the director in July 2015.
The 'venture capitalist' has previously described himself as an 'entrepreneur, strategist, visionary, and philanthropist' to his 122k Instagram followers. The reported millionaire - who studied at America's number one-ranked public college, UC Berkeley - allegedly invested his wealth into blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, data systems, and the medical use of cannabis in the USA.
In 2022, it was reported he started investing in cryptocurrencies in 2014 which grew his wealth allowing him to 'shuttle between Miami and London' to tend to business.
The lie
However, a court heard the businessmen brazenly claimed the waste his company handled was being sent to a legal site at Kiveton Park, near Sheffield, South Yorkshire. But in fact the massive loads were actually diverted to 16 unlicensed dumps across eight areas of England including historic manor houses and nature reserves. The majority of the waste dumped was mixed municipal waste, wrapped in plastic to form bales.
In mid 2017 a nationwide investigation was opened up by the EA into the high flyers' habit and enquiries led the EA to Datta's home in 2018, where they seized £131,520 in cash. Then in 2022, a restraint order was applied to two bank accounts ensuring that any future confiscation orders could be paid.
He first appeared at Birmingham Magistrates Court in August 2023. The case was later handed to the Crown Court where Datta subsequently pleaded guilty on June 3, 2025 - after initially pleading not guilty in 2023 - to illegally depositing waste between January 1 and May 30 2017.
“Reckless”
When sentencing Datta, Judge Paul Farrar KC, branded 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 also added 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 ordered to pay £1,116,432.78 by way of a confiscation order representing his financial gain from knowingly causing the deposit of waste.
Money for local nature reserve
He was also ordered to pay a total of £100,000 in compensation - £70,000 in clean up cost to Middlesbrough Council and £30,000 to Lancashire Wildlife Trust for the future management of the Middleton Nature Reserve.
Datta has to pay within three months, otherwise he faces a 18 month prison sentence.
He was also told to cough up £200,000 in prosecution costs as well as being slapped with a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, as well as 30 days’ rehabilitation and 200 hours of unpaid work.
Two other men Mohammed Saraji Bashir, 45, of Windmill Street, Peterborough, and Robert William McAllister, 55, of Iveagh Close, Northwood, London, were also found guilty of crimes related to the dumping. Bashir was sentenced to four months, suspended for 18 months, in prison for pleaded guilty to knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited at three sites. McAllister was fined £750 for failing to comply with the duty of care imposed on brokers of waste, in relation to controlled waste that was deposited at two sites.
Environment Agency
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said the companies actions were "shocking" and "welcomed" their punishments. Emma Viner, Enforcement and Investigations Manager in the Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Unit, said the agency is "glad to see the perpetrators brought to justice".
Warrants for the arrest of Sandeep Golechha, 53, of Wheatley Close, London, and Jason Newman, of no fixed abode, are still active.
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