Posted on 04/25/2004 2:08:26 PM PDT by John W
A report obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News indicates that the owner of Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative told federal investigators he gave steroids to nearly 30 athletes, including Barry Bonds and track stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.
According to the newspapers, the document summarizes an Internal Revenue Service investigator's interview of Victor Conte last Sept. 3 during a search of the company, at which time Conte volunteered the names of the athletes.
Conte's lawyers denied the report, which reportedly lists 27 athletes -- among them Bonds, Jones, Montgomery, Kelli White and the Yankees' Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield -- to whom Conte allegedly gave steroids.
The report, however, apparently does not say if any of the athletes used the substances -- THG, testosterone cream or both -- obtained from Conte.
The story on the Chronicle's Web site, quoting sources who requested anonymity, said Conte told federal investigators that Jones and Montgomery received the performance-enhancing substances in exchange for endorsements of his nutritional supplement.
Conte's attorneys question the legality of the interview and the veracity of the IRS agent's claims. His lawyers contend the IRS report is filled with fabrications and that Conte's statements have either been falsified or were coerced, as the IRS interview was conducted under intimidating circumstances and without a tape recorder.
"The coercive nature of that interview as well as the disputed contents of what the agents claim was said in that mysteriously unrecorded statement will be the subject of pretrial motions," defense lawyers Robert Holley and Troy Ellerman said in a prepared statement.
According to the Mercury News, Conte, in the report by IRS agent Jeff Novitzky and co-signed by San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force officer Jon Columbet, is quoted as saying:
Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson, brought Bonds and several other baseball players to BALCO to obtain drugs at the beginning of the 2003 season. The steroids were the allegedly giving to Bonds in exchange for his endorsement of Conte's legal supplement, ZMA -- a zinc- and magnesium-based, legal nutritional product.
Conte allegedly gave Jones steroids for free in exchange for her endorsement of ZMA. Conte stopped working with Jones in 2001.
Conte gave Montgomery steroids in 2002 just before the sprinter set the world record or the 100-meters, at 9.78 seconds, in Paris.
A lawyer for Conte told the Chronicle that the lab owner denied ever providing information to federal agents about any specific athletes receiving steroids.
Conte said in an e-mail message to The Associated Press that he couldn't comment. Jones' publicist, Lewis Kay, could not be reached for comment.
Jones' attorney, Joseph Burton, issued a statement saying the Chronicle's story was wrong.
"Victor Conte is either lying or the statement was involuntarily coerced. This is a character assassination of the worst kind," Burton said.
"Marion has never had an endorsement deal of any kind with Victor Conte or any of his businesses, and most specifically she has never received any illegal substances from Conte in exchange for her endorsement of his products."
Jones and Montgomery, both of whom testified last fall before a federal grand jury that indicted Conte and three other men, repeatedly have denied steroid use. All four indicted men have pleaded innocent.
Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield -- all of whom testified before the grand jury -- have denied using steroids. No athlete has been charged in the case.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Nah, they all probably threw them away.
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