Scandal among Czech bodybuilders. The group illegally sold steroids for millions
According to the findings of Aktuálně.cz, two prominent figures of Czech professional bodybuilding are involved in a criminal case, the nature and scope of which is unprecedented in this sport on domestic soil. They were actively involved in the commercial sale of anabolic steroids. Such substances are prohibited. One of the athletes has already received a valid punishment for this, the other is sentenced without jurisdiction.
"I don't recognize the word doping. Doping is doing something forbidden, where no one else is doing it, in order to get rich, screw people up and gain an advantage over them. But we all do it at this level. And we only fight who can do it better and more sophisticated, " he said in one interview posted on YouTube " said bodybuilder Aleš Bursa
Bursa is one of the best-known representatives of Czech bodybuilding, he also works as a personal trainer. In the interview, he talked about how things are going on the Czech professional scene. Bodybuilders take steroids for performance enhancement, muscle growth and other physical benefits. But they make such a decision knowing all the health risks, it is done discreetly.
However, according to the findings of Aktuálně.cz, Bursa was involved in an unprecedented project in the Czech Republic. He was involved in building a distribution network for the commercial sale of steroids to the general public. They were promoted on social networks as substances for scientific purposes. The court legally punished four people for this, including Bursa, all of whom confessed. The fifth, bodybuilder Filip Grznár, is sentenced without jurisdiction.
Bursa offered a discount code to buy steroids"Through the internet store (…) by deliberate action, after mutual agreement and the division of individual roles, guided by the common intention to obtain an unjustified financial benefit, they offered and sold (…) preparations which they were aware of the fact that they contain substances with anabolic and other hormonal effects ," reads the key passage of the verdict, which Aktuálně.cz obtained.
Bursa's role was to advertise
SARM anabolics. He talked about them in at least three YouTube videos, where he also offered a code for a ten percent discount when shopping at an online store set up and operated by two other members of the group. He also promoted them on his Instagram account.
"Aleš Bursa, who is a well-known person in the field of bodybuilding and a personal trainer, carried out marketing activities aimed at increasing awareness of the sale of SARM substances," states his role in the judgment handed down last October at the District Court for Prague 5. It was handed down by the senate judge Petra Kreuzmannová.
Profit of three million crowns for a health riskThe SARMs contained ibutamoren, ligandrol, oxymetholone, and dehydrochloromethyltesto
sterone, which are considered anabolic steroids under a 2009 government regulation. According to the law, their distribution for other than scientific or medical purposes is a crime. Their use entails several health risks.
"There can be damage to the cardiovascular system in the form of hypertension (high blood pressure, editor's note), the formation of blood clots and damage to the arteries. These problems can lead to heart attacks or cerebrovascular events," the police said last fall, when the group , then without mentioning the names of the actors, she accused. Another threat is liver damage.
At the same time, the group stated on the website, where it operated an online store, that the steroids were for scientific purposes and that they were not a dietary supplement or a drug. However, she just wanted to cover herself with that. In this way, from April 2020 to September 2021, it delivered 2,793 parcels for 7.1 million crowns across the Czech Republic. She had a net profit of 3.1 million. Bursa's share was 767 thousand.
"We do not recommend these substances in amateur sports from the beginning, they do not belong here at all. It is primarily a health risk. I prefer not to think about what men and women do to themselves in professional sports," said Roman Hajabáč, chairman of the Bodybuilding Association, to Aktuálně.cz and fitness of the Czech Republic, which represents amateurs.
The most severe suspended sentencesBursa received a suspended sentence of three years in prison with a probationary period of five years and a fine of 300,000 crowns for the production and other handling of substances with a hormonal effect. This is the most severe suspended sentence that can be given. It also included the fact that the police found several tens of milliliters of other anabolic steroids at the bodybuilder's home for personal use.
"I was not exempted from confidentiality. I am telling you that my client is a very honest person, a true athlete, and in the whole matter he was a person who was misled," said Bursa's legal representative Miroslav Ťupa. However, his client, like the other three convicts, entered into a court-approved plea agreement with the prosecutor that included a confession.
Two other actors in the case, Ondřej Kavka and Tomáš Drobný, left the court with the same punishment for the same offense as Bursa, only Kavka paid one hundred thousand crowns more in fine. The fourth convict, Michaela Klementovičová, was sentenced to 150 hours of community service and a fine of 20,000 crowns due to her more marginal role in the group.
"Unfortunately, I have to tell you that the rules of professional ethics make it impossible for me to inform you about anything in this matter, and even my clients have not released me from my duty of confidentiality," said Ondřej Kuchař, the legal representative of the convicted Kavka and Drobného. The editors could not get in touch with Klementovičová.
They bought the materials from ChinaThe group purchased the basic substances, the aforementioned ibutamoren or ligandrol, from manufacturers in China or through an online store. Subsequently, she had them imported to the Czech Republic. At a local specialized company, the actors then ordered the processing of substances into capsules and their placement in plastic bottles so that they could be sold.
Kavka bought the internet domain on which the online store was running, the website of which was again set up by Kavka. The domain was then bought by Drobný, who, according to the judgment, "conspiratorially" transferred it to a company based in England. The group listed this company as an official dealer of SARM substances.
Drobný also set up an account from which the operation of the online store was paid and where payments from customers went. At the same time, Kavka and Drobný paid for a steroid advertisement displayed on the social networks Instagram and Facebook. The promotion of SARM substances also appeared on one important Czech discount portal.
The fifth figure in the case is professional bodybuilder and mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Filip Grznár. Just as Bursa promoted the sale of steroids on his social media accounts, he is accused of aiding the production and other handling of substances with a hormonal effect. Unlike the others, he didn't confess. Last Monday, the District Court for Prague 5 fined him 75,000 crowns, Grznár appealed on the spot.
https://zpravy.aktualne.cz/domaci/kulturisti-steroidy/r~1a5c44ba927211ed8980ac1f6b220ee8/
