Bonds was biggest name caught up in BALCO scandal

U.S. District Court

The biggest target of the BALCO investigation was Barry Bonds, former Giants slugger and baseball’s all-time home run leader.

But from the 2003 federal drug raid on the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in Burlingame to Bonds' 2011 trial on perjury charges, an unlikely cast of elite athletes, steroid dealers, and other figures were drawn into the case.

Here, from public records, are profiles:

DEALERS:

Victor Conte, founder of BALCO

ROLE: Mastermind of the conspiracy to corrupt sports with undetectable steroids, he pleaded guilty to steroid dealing.

RESULT: Served four months at what he called a “Club Fed” work camp, then resumed selling nutritional supplements through a new business, SNAC Systems.

TODAY: In interviews, Conte has implicated many athletes in the use of steroids, but said he never provided banned drugs to Barry Bonds. In February, he told HBO he is training Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd but is not giving him drugs.

Greg Anderson, Bonds’ weight trainer

ROLE: Anderson pleaded guilty to steroid dealing in the BALCO case, but refused to testify about Bonds.

RESULT: Anderson served three months in federal prison for his steroids conviction. He spent more than a year for contempt of court after he refused to testify before the grand jury investigating Bonds. Federal agents also investigated his wife and mother-in-law.

TODAY: Anderson was working as a trainer at a gym in Foster City when the government subpoenaed him to testify at Bonds’ trial. He again refused to testify, and the judge again jailed him.

OTHERS: James Valente, BALCO vice president, pleaded guilty to steroid dealing and was put on probation. He no longer works with Conte. Remi Korchemny, elite track coach and BALCO associate, also received probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge. He was banned from elite sports but, with Conte, trained bantamweight boxer Nonito Donaire, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. Patrick Arnold, the chemist who created the undetectable steroid called “the clear,” pleaded guilty to steroid dealing and served four months. He owns a nutritional supplements company in Illinois.

THE ACCUSED:

Marion Jones, Olympic champion

ROLE: Winner of five medals at the 2000 Olympics, she pleaded guilty to lying about her use of banned drugs from BALCO and about her role in a New York check forgery ring.

RESULT: Jones made a tearful public apology, then served six months in federal prison. Olympic officials stripped her of her medals, and she said she was “ruined financially.”

TODAY: Paroled, she played pro basketball last year with the Tulsa Shock of the WNBA. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, she said she never “knowingly” took banned drugs. Conte, who claims he injected her, called her a liar.

Trevor Graham, elite track coach

ROLE: The coach of Marion Jones and other stars, he tipped authorities to BALCO by sending them a syringe of “the clear.” But he was indicted for lying about his own distribution of banned drugs.

RESULT: At a San Francisco trial, Olympic gold medalists Antonio Pettigrew, Jerome Young and Dennis Mitchell testified Graham told them to get steroids from his Mexican drug “connection.”

TODAY: The jury foreman accused the government of targeting Graham because of a “lust for blood,” but he was convicted of a felony and served one year of house arrest in North Carolina. He was banned from Olympic sports. The Olympians who testified were stripped of their medals, and Pettigrew committed suicide.

 

Filed under: Public Safety, Barry Bonds

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