Fallen Olympic swimmer Scott Miller is ‘seeking $1 million’ as he rebuilds his life after serving more than three years in prison for his role in a methamphetamine distribution ring.
Miller, a silver medalist in the 100-meter butterfly at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, has deliberately kept out of the public eye since his release from prison on June 14.
The 49-year-old was a media favourite during his brief marriage to TV presenter Charlotte Dawson, who took her own life a decade ago, but has rarely been photographed, unless outside court, in recent years.
Miller has struggled continuously since retiring from competitive swimming and her weight has ballooned as she abandoned a healthy lifestyle and intensive physical training.
Photographs of a limp Miller being arrested in February 2021 showed the one-time Bachelor of the Year Cleo slumped in a chair, shirtless and shoeless, with a roll of fat spilling over his jeans.
He spent much of his time in custody at the maximum-security Hunter Correctional Centre in Cessnock, 160 kilometres north of Sydney, where he ran the prison gym.
Greg Goold, Miller’s longtime attorney, said his client was “in very good mental and physical shape” and appeared to have benefited from his years in prison.
“He emerged from prison refreshed and invigorated and is looking to move on with his life,” Goold said.
Fallen Olympic swimmer Scott Miller is “looking for a million dollars” as he rebuilds his life after serving more than three years in prison for his role in a methamphetamine distribution ring. He is pictured here in 1996, the year he won silver in the 100-meter butterfly at the Atlanta Olympics.
“He looks like a million dollar man. He looks like he’d be ready to compete in the Olympics.”
Miller’s role as a “gym cleaner” behind bars included leading fitness programs for other inmates while he took the opportunity to get in shape.
“He was also the head of the peer mentoring program and they said they were sad to lose him,” Good said.
‘Honestly, he looks like he’s ready to swim the 100m butterfly in a record time for his age at the World Masters.’
Daily Mail Australia understands that Miller, who operated a small trucking company before his time in prison, plans to work in transport and supply logistics.
She has also expressed interest in appearing on SAS Australia, the recently cancelled reality show sometimes used by disgraced celebrities to rehabilitate their image.
Miller was jailed in November 2022 for a minimum of three years, counting from the time of his arrest.
Footage of a limp Miller being arrested in February 2021 showed former Bachelor of the Year Cleo slumped in a chair, shirtless and shoeless, with a roll of fat spilling over his jeans.
He pleaded guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine, supplying a commercial quantity of heroin, trafficking the proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group.
Miller attributed his fall from grace in the methamphetamine supply to “post-elite competition depression” and his own long-term drug abuse.
With three clumsy accomplices, Miller was involved in a scheme to transport 4kg of methamphetamine worth $2.2 million across New South Wales, which ended in his inevitable arrest.
This whole chaotic plan had no chance of success, as the police were watching, listening and tracking every movement of the drugs from start to finish.
Miller drove the methamphetamine approximately 280 kilometres from Sydney to Yass in January 2021 and delivered the shipment for transport to Albury.
But the drugs were abandoned more than 200 kilometres further south after two incompetent mules became involved in a high-speed chase with highway patrol officers.
A search warrant was executed at Miller’s apartment in Rozelle, in Sydney’s central west, a month after the botched drug deal.
Miller told a sentencing hearing that he was introduced to drugs through his relationship with television presenter Charlotte Dawson and had fallen into addiction.
Police found 796.8 grams of heroin and $2,175 in cash inside a dressing room, $500 in a wallet and $69,870 in a safe.
While in custody, Miller was charged with supplying a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine and directing a criminal group between April and October 2020 over another drug network.
He pleaded guilty and in May this year was sentenced to four years in prison with a non-parole period of 12 months, time he had already served.
At his sentencing hearing for those crimes, Miller said he was introduced to drugs through his relationship with Dawson and had fallen into addiction.
“Charlotte worked in the fashion and media industries, and it was in the context of my exposure to the lifestyle provided by my wife’s social and work connections that I first became familiar with personal drug use,” Miller wrote in an affidavit.
‘While it wasn’t significant, I realize in retrospect that it was the beginning of my long and disastrous relationship with drug abuse.’
Mr Goold said his client was suffering from a depression common among elite athletes when they can no longer compete at the highest level.
Miller and Dawson married in 1999, separated a year later and she took her own life at age 47, the day after her 39th birthday.
The State Parole Authority approved Miller’s release on June 14, and he walked out of jail that afternoon.
