The winner of The Apprentice 2025 could be in a spot of legal trouble after his company was accused of breaking an operating rule.
Dean Franklin emerged victorious in the BBC business-style game show earlier this week, teaming up with Lord Alan Sugar and securing a £250,000 investment.
The 35-year-old beat out Anisa Khan for the investment, and planned to use his winnings to invest in his air conditioning company, ADL.
Franklin started the company in the summer during the COVID lockdown, but now, it looks like the company could be in trouble as they are currently under investigation for what has been described as a 'potential breach'.
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Based in Essex, the entrepreneur has been allegedly operating without an F-Gas licence, a must-have in the industry, for 17 months.
This could cost him six figures, potentially the bulk of his £250,000 prize.
Franklin has been accused of failing to have the licence between May 2020 and October 2021, with the maximum penalty being a £200,000 fine, as companies and individuals handling fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) must have an F-gas licence.
These gases are often used as refrigerants in A/C systems, as The Environment Agency stated: "We are clear that it is against the law to work with F-Gas without the correct qualifications and certification."
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According to the official register, ADL holds a licence at the moment, though the dates cannot be seen.
Having founded the company during the scorching pandemic summers, he made a lot of money off the high demands for units to be installed, as Franklin claimed on the show: "I jumped at the opportunity, put all my eggs in one basket, took the risk, made the jump and haven’t looked back."
The father-of-two said in a statement to The Sun: "I’m not aware of any review or investigation. I’ve been F-Gas certified since 2014 and have the necessary qualifications for my work."
Franklin explained on the series that ADL had a turnover of £500,000, as well as a net profit of £171,000 before giving 50 percent of that stake to Lord Sugar.
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As reported by The Sun and as revealed by both the F-Gas Register and Refcom, ADL did not hold the certification required for those 17 months in question, though Franklin continued to operate as normal.
In this period, he even shared snaps online of installing units for high-profile clients such as former Tottenham Hotspur winger Lucas Moura.
His company was also showered with positive reviews from customers, though Graeme Fox, a F-Gas Register scheme director, pointed something damning out.
"If a company was operating without a valid certificate, it would have been trading illegally until it was registered," he said.
While The Sun reported that Franklin wasn't formally listed as a director of ADL until April 2021, Companies House documents reveal that he became a 50 percent shareholder in May 2020.
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He was also noted as a 'person with significant control' from the start.
LADbible has reached out to ADL and the BBC for comment.
Joshua Nair