A man convicted in England of selling a substance that was marketed as a weight loss drug has been forced to hand over £23,000 ($29,700).

The amount that Jack Finney, 28, was told to pay back included Monero cryptocurrency, which the Food Standards Agency (FSA) sold off for £15,000 ($19,400), including £2,800 ($3,600) that will be paid back to the FSA.

Monero cryptocurrency is a privacy coin that cannot be tracked and traced. This is the first time that a case prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has led to Monero’s conversion.

Operation Atlas was a Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 investigation that led to a confiscation order against Finney, who was convicted of supplying DNP (2,4-Dinitrophenol), Class C drugs in the form of steroids and other controlled drugs, and prescription-only medicines. 

Dangers of DNP

Finney was jailed for 28 months in December 2021 after pleading guilty at Chester Crown Court to offenses including the sale of DNP, a highly toxic industrial chemical that he sold on the dark web as a diet pill for weight loss. DNP can cause serious harm to health and has resulted in at least 33 deaths across the UK. It was classed as a poison by the Home Office in October 2023.

A financial investigator from the FSA’s National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) worked with the CPS to take Finney back to court and used the Proceeds of Crime Act to make him repay money he had made.

“We welcome the court’s decision to force Jack Finney to hand over the £23,000 that he made from selling lethal substances on the dark web, and we hope it sends a strong message to anyone else who is seeking to profit from illegal sales,” said Andrew Quinn, head of the NFCU.

“The NFCU has a close working partnership with local authorities and other law enforcement agencies in the UK and abroad. Together, we continue to pursue and bring to justice those who endanger the public and break the law.”

Recovering funds

The court ruled the amount that Finney made from offending was more than £180,000 ($232,000) but ordered him to pay back £23,000 as this was the total available at the time. If he comes in more money, lawyers in the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division can take him back to court to get the remaining amount. If he had failed to pay, eight months would have been added to the sentence.

Adrian Foster, chief crown prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “It’s taken several years to secure full justice, but we have ensured Jack Finney will never see £23,000 he made from selling lethal so-called weight loss drugs and anabolic steroids over the dark web.

“This is the first case wher we have converted Monero currency into cash. This shows that criminals cannot hide their money in any cryptocurrencies in the hope it will be safe from the authorities.”

Detective Sergeant David MacFarlane, from Cheshire Police’s Cyber Crime Unit, said: “As demonstrated throughout this joint operation, robust action will be taken against those who choose to profit from putting members of the public in danger with the illegal sale of lethal substances. This case should serve as a deterrent to those who think they can get away with committing these types of offenses – crime does not pay.”