VIDEO | UFC veteran Josh Burkman present during multi-million dollar steroid raid in Miami gym
UFC veteran Josh Burkman was caught totally off guard when he was woken up by the DEA and SWAT team on Tuesday in the Budokan University gym he trains at in Miami, Florida.
The DEA and SWAT raided the Budokan University’s neighbors, the Iron Addicts gym in Miami for an alleged multi-million dollar steroid bust. The Budokan University resides under the same roof as the Iron Addicts gym.
The investigation that involves numerous states arrested nine people, according to CBS Miami.
“They kicked the doors in. The SWAT team came in and woke us up and said, ‘Hey. Get up and get out of here,'” Burkman told CBS.
According to CBS, the charges are a result from an undercover investigation on the Wellness Fitness Nutrition (WFN). “The company’s founder and CEO, Richard Rodriguez, alleged that WFN was compliant with FDA regulations and licensed to distribute anabolic steroids which are considered a controlled substance. During the investigation, they found out that WFN was not licensed by the DEA to distribute steroids to customers without medical prescriptions and sold it through its website, according to court documents.”
Investigators say that over $10 million from steroid sales were moved to various WFN-connected bank accounts and laundered over a million dollars back into the Iron Addicts gym operation.
Richard Rodriguez, John Ferrell, Nancy Melo-Rodriguez, Erick Vittitow, Bader Alaskari, Bernard Duran and Jonathan Gonzalez of Florida were seven of the 10 arrested in the raid and were arrainged on Tuesday in a Miami federal courthouse.
Federal agents removed equiptment from the popular Iron Addicts gym throughout the day.
Burkman posted a photo with some of the guys from the Budokan University and members from the DEA. Burkman said in his caption, “The DEA and swat team stopped by to say what’s up to our neighbors today… We made time for a photo.”
Josh Burkman is set to fight Michel Prazeres at UFC Fight Night 106, which takes place in Fortaleza, Brazil on March 11.
This article first appeared on 2/23/2017.
Topics:
Josh Burkman