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Jeff Novitsky Transferred to FDA to Focus on Steroid Cases

April 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment

IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitsky has been transferred to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations as a special agent to give him greater freedom to focus on anabolic steroid-related investigations (“No Longer With I.R.S., Novitzky Joins F.D.A.,” April 23).

In regards to Novitzky’s new job, Dwight Sparlin, a retired I.R.S. manager who led the San Francisco office when the Balco case started nearly six years ago, said he had been hearing for two weeks that Novitzky was going to the F.D.A. to continue focusing on drug cases.

“I think it would give him more exposure to just doing that type of work,” Sparlin said by telephone Tuesday. He added: “For Jeff to go as far as he did in Balco was a stretch for the I.R.S., too. I think he was allowed to go a lot further than he would otherwise because of the impact.”

Jeff Novitsky has been involved in almost every aspect of the BALCO steroid scandal and steroids in baseball investigation.

(Hat tip to Steroid Nation for the story.)

Filed Under: Steroid History, Steroid Law, Steroids and Baseball, Steroids and Cycling Tagged With: , , , ,

Innocent Olympic Athletes Defense Fund

April 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped Marion Jones’ teammates of medals won at 2000 Sydney Olympics on April 10, 2008.

Her teammates on the 1,600 squad were Jearl-Miles Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander-Richardson and Andrea Anderson. The 400-relay squad also had Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson.

Seven of the eight teammates have set up a legal defense fund called the “Innocent Olympic Athletes Defense Fund” to raise $200,000 in anticipated legal cost for the appeal for their defense attorney Mark Levinstein of Williams and Connolly Firm in Washington DC.

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) refused to pay for the athletes’ defense if they chose Mark Levinstein because Levinstein wasn’t nice to them [Read more...]

Filed Under: Steroids and Track, Steroids in Sports Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Teen Extracurricular Steroid Chemistry and Marketing Experiment

April 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Matthew Wong is not your average 17-year old high school student. He is an innovative entrepreneur, lacking in his legal education, who used the internet to order raw steroid powder from China to manufacture and distribute anabolic steroids in extracurricular chemistry and marketing experiments. Unlike his high school classmates, Wong has been in jail for the past two weeks socializing with Tarrant County criminals (“Steroid labs in Tarrant area are processing powder bought online,” April 23).

The arrests came after a two-month investigation prompted by a tip, Grapevine police Lt. Todd Dearing said. Matthew Wong, 17, of Grapevine was arrested April 10 on suspicion of possession of controlled substances and dangerous drugs and on suspicion of delivery of controlled substances. The charges range from state jail felonies to second-degree felonies, Dearing said. Wong remained in the Tarrant County Jail on Tuesday with bail set at $26,000.

Police say Wong sold an undercover officer steroids numerous times. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Wong most recently met the undercover officer on Feb. 21 in a restaurant parking lot, where the officer bought 21.8 grams of Oxymetholone, a strong steroid, and 19.6 grams of testosterone from Wong for $310.

Filed Under: Steroid Law, Steroids in Society Tagged With: , , , , ,

Gatorade and Pro-Steroid Agenda of Major League Baseball

April 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

While high school football coaches like Chris Connolly of Dolgeville High School have banned Gatorade and other dietary supplements out of fear that they may be a gateway to steroid use, Major League Baseball has actually embraced Gatorade as MLB’s “official sports drink.” Major League Baseball has now taken it a step further and banned water from the clubhouse (“Don’t drink the water!” April 23).

Gatorade is Major League Baseball’s “official sports drink.” So instructions were sent that no player could be seen drinking anything but Gatorade in the dugout. Not even Aquafina, which is the “official water” of MLB. Not even bottles of water with the labels removed.

White Sox clubhouse personnel said if players take bottled water onto the bench, all the bottled water will be removed from the clubhouse as punishment.

This policy only reinforces the appearance of a pro-steroid agenda by Major League Baseball. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Steroid Commentary, Steroids and Baseball Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Greek Weightlifters Test Positive for Anabolic Steroid Methyltrienolone

April 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Eleven of the fourteen members of the Greek National Weightlifting Team have tested positve for the anabolic steroid methyltrienolone. Both samples A and B were positive for the steroid. This will likely result in the expulsion of the entire Greek Weightlifting Team from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Methyltrienolone is a very toxic oral anabolic steroid. However, reports by the Athens News that methytrienolone killed 200 bodybuilders in the 1960s are ludicrous. Researchers at the University of Bonn (Germany) blocked its commercial release in 1966 due to its high hepatotoxicity (liver toxicity). Professor Demetrios Kouretas (Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Thessaly) told Steroid Report he worked with the toxic steroid methyltrienolone as part of his postdoctoral thesis at the University of Harvard. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Anti-Doping, Steroids in Sports Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency Loses Its First Doping Case

April 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Track sprinter LaTasha Jenkins is the first athlete to win a doping case against the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). She was charged with an adverse analytical finding after testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone in both Sample A and Sample B in July 2006. She was banned from competition for two years. Last week, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) dropped its appeal of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision which exonerated her (“LaTasha Jenkins first athlete to beat the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on a doping charge,” April 22).

A three-member arbitration panel ruled last December the testing of her sample, given at a meet in Belgium, was not done in accordance with WADA rules that require tests be run by two different technicians.

That broke USADA’s perfect record in front of arbitration panels, which was 35-0 according to the best available statistics.

To the question of Jenkins’ appearing to have won on a technicality, Valparaiso Sports Law Clinic director Michael Straubel had said, “[The arbitrators] set aside the test results because they were not based on reliable lab results.”

She was represented by the Valpo Sports Law Clinic with free legal assistance. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Steroid History, Steroids and Track Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

USADA Longitudinal Testing Program – Project Believe

April 17, 2008 By Leave a Comment

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has been conducting a formerly secret pilot program for longitudinal testing for anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. USADA recruited twelve U.S. athletes for voluntary participation in “Project Believe.” News of the anti-doping program was leaked when decathlon champion Brian Clay and runner Allyson Felix discussed it at a press conference possibly violating USADA’s code of secrecy on the program (“US sports stars try to dim doping fears with ‘Project Believe’,” April 17).

“I may get in trouble for talking about it but I want people to know I’m doing everything in my power to stay clean,” said Clay, who began having extra tests done before last month’s world indoor championships.

In spite of Clay’s concerns, it is unlikely that Clay or Felix will face any sanctions by USADA for revealing the existence of “Project Believe” prior to its official launch. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Steroid History, Steroids and Cycling, Steroids and Track Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Growth Hormone Will Not Be Added to Controlled Substances List

April 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have modified a bill that would have added human growth hormone (HGH) to the Controlled Substances List. The bill was introduced as a kneejerk reaction to revelations of widespread HGH use in professional baseball. But in the end, legislators avoided making the same mistake with HGH as they did with anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) with the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. (“HGH bill altered to help children,” April 16) [Read more...]

Filed Under: Steroid Health, Steroid History, Steroid Law, Steroids and Baseball Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Cyclist Jan Ullrich Pays Fine for Defrauding Public by Doping

April 13, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Since doping is not a crime in Germany, German prosecutors sued cyclist Jan Ullrich for fraud based on evidence of the use of banned blood doping and performance-enhancing drugs (“Jan Ullrich draws 1M euro fine in doping fraud case,” April 12).

Disgraced former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich is to pay out a million euro fine to end a fraud case which German prosecutors have been investigating, Focus news magazine reported on its Web site Saturday.

Prosecutors accused the 1997 Tour de France winner of taking performance-enhancing drugs, leading under German law to fraud charges against the 34-year-old on the basis he deceived the public, sponsors and his team.

The United States does not have laws that specifically criminalize doping in sports. However, the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990, passed as a direct result of doping scandals in sports, criminalizes the non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids. One of the primary objectives for the act has been to combat “cheating” in sports although it has been largely ineffective for this purpose. Instead, the federal government has had some recent success using perjury laws to prosecute athletes who use steroids. Maybe sports fraud prosecutions will join perjury as an additional way of making examples out of “immoral” athletes.

Filed Under: Anti-Doping, Steroids and Cycling Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Steroid Source for Elite Track Athletes Working with Federal Investigators

April 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Angel Guillermo Heredia was a major steroid source for elite track and field athletes. He has been working with federal investigators for several years; he has disclosed the names of at least a dozen elite track athletes who won Olympic medals and World Chamionships as well as another dozen elite track stars who have not won Olympic medals (“Witness in Track Doping Case Ready to Name Big Names,” April 13).

Among his clients, Mr. Heredia identified 12 athletes who had won a combined 26 Olympic medals and 21 world championships. Four of the 12 athletes, including Ms. Jones, had been named and barred from competition for illicit drug use. Eight of the 12 — notably, the sprinter Maurice Greene — have never been previously linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

Angel Heredia is a Mexican national who lived in Laredo, Texas and utilized his family connections in Mexico to obtain steroids and other pharmaceuticals for athletes. Heredia explains how easy it is for athletes to use steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs and avoid detection. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Anti-Doping, Steroid Law, Steroids and Track Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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