WASHINGTON (KRT) – Four people, including the trainer of baseball slugger Barry Bonds, were indicted on federal charges Thursday, accused of involvement in a global sports-doping ring.
The 42-count indictment alleges that a San Francisco-based nutritional supplements company distributed illegal steroids to Major League Baseball and football stars and Olympic track and field athletes. None of the athletes was charged or even named in the indictment.
But a parade of well-known sports figures including Bonds, track star Marion Jones, pro football linebacker Bill Romanowski and boxer Shane Mosley testified before the federal grand jury that was hearing evidence in the case late last year.
The Justice Department crackdown came after President Bush, a onetime owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, condemned steroid use by professional athletes in his State of the Union address last month.
The indictment was announced Thursday at a news conference by Attorney General John Ashcroft, Food and Drug Administrator Mark McClellan and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson.
“Steroids are bad for sports; they’re bad for players; they’re bad for young people who hold athletes up as role models,” Ashcroft said.
The charges include conspiracy to distribute steroids, possession of human growth hormone, money laundering and misbranding drugs with the intent to defraud.
The indictment names Victor Conte Jr., the president and chief executive officer of Bay Area Lab Cooperative (BALCO), along with company vice president James Valente; Greg Anderson, Bonds’ personal trainer; and Remi Korchemny, the coach for champion sprinters Kelli White of the United States and Dwain Chambers of Britain.
The indictment alleges that BALCO distributed a cream and liquid that contained testosterone and tetrahydragestrinone (THG), a previously undetectable steroid.
The legal papers contained what they said were excerpts from e-mail messages in which Conte provided instructions about how to mask illegal trafficking.
Conte allegedly warned a coach in one e-mail to refer to the drugs only by initials.
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2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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