Two men at the centre of one of the sporting world’s largest drug scandals were sentenced to prison terms on Tuesday by a United States federal court judge on Tuesday.
Judge Susan Illston sentenced Victor Conte, founder of Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), and Greg Anderson, who served as a personal trainer to Barry Bonds, to penalties of four months and three months in jail respectively.
Balco’s vice-president James Valente received three years probation.
Conte is president of Balco whose clients included numerous elite athletes such as sprinters Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and baseball players Bonds and Jason Giambi.
Conte’s sentence was worked out as part of a deal with federal prosecutors and he was also instructed by a Judge Illston to serve four months under house arrest.
”[Athletes] were cheating and you helped them do that. You were complicit in the cheating,” Judge Illston told Conte.
Anderson, who helped Bonds chase Major League Baseball’s all-time home run record, also received three months house arrest.
The pair are free on bond until they begin serving their prison sentences on December 1.
Conte pleaded guilty in July to illegal steroid distribution and a money laundering charge.
The four-month home confinement is just one of a number of special conditions attached to a two-year supervised release order.
The 54-year-old Conte will not be allowed to have contact with Anderson or track coach Remi Korchemny.
He was also slapped with a $10 000 fine, ordered to turn over his financial information and is not allowed to own firearms.
Conte says he is now the ”poster child” for performance-enhancing drugs in sports. He said better education is the key to stamping out drug cheats and he plans to use his knowledge to do something positive for professional and amateur sports.
”It is time for the world to finally become educated about the truth behind elite level sports, so we can begin to collectively work toward creating a genuine level playing field for the young athletes of the future,” Conte told the San Jose Mercury News outside the courtroom.
Korchemny is scheduled to be sentenced early next year.
Last month authorities raided a laboratory in Illinois they believe helped make one of the steroids connected to the Balco scandal. – Sapa-AFP