Why You Shouldn't Believe Marion Jones: Vol. 53

Story by Eric.

This is the 53rd submission in a long series about Marion Jones, a former elite sprinter who won (stole) honour and earned (stole) endorsements, fame and fortune by method of fraud.

This story is being told in its entirety, because Marion Jones is unable to do it herself. Though parts of this story may be historical in nature, they are of essense to the sum of the whole insofar as they tell a story of a woman who is more complicit in the BALCO affairs and her own drug-taking than she has led on.

My last entry described Marion Jones's involvement in the check-fraud scheme for which she ultimately was found guilty of lying to U.S. Federal investigators Marion Jones's former boyfriend and father of her first child, Tim Montgomery, pleaded guilty in Manhattan U.S. District Court to three felonies concerning that: conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two counts of bank fraud, according to his attorneys. His sentencing was initially set for 2007-November-1, and he had initially faced between 37 to 46 months in prison his lawyer, William Alcott, said.

Montgomery was subsequently sentenced to the maximum 46 months and five years of probation for his role in the felony activity.

Excerpted from the arrest record:

Included amongst those checks are at least seven fraudulently obtained checks, in the total aggregate amount of approximately $2,485,000, which were sent by DOUGLAS SHYNE, NATASHA SINGH, and TOYBE BENNETT in the New York area to TIMOTHY MONTGOMERY, STEVEN RIDDICK, and NATHANIEL ALEXANDER in the Norfolk, Virginia area, to be deposited into accounts associated with them.

According to the Indictment, STEVEN RIDDICK caused at least three checks totaling $905,000 to be deposited into accounts associated with him; NATHANIEL ALEXANDER caused at least two checks totaling $1,000,000 to be deposited into accounts associated with him; and TIMOTHY MONTGOMERY caused at least three checks totaling $775,000 to be deposited into accounts associated with him. Of these checks, only a $375,000 check deposited into STEVEN RIDDICK’s business account cleared. Following the deposit of that check, RIDDICK issued checks to certain co-conspirators, including ROBERTO MONTGOMERY, EPHRAIM RICHARDSON, NARESH PITAMBAR, JASON WATLER, who in turn, funneled proceeds back to DOUGLAS SHYNE and NATASHA SINGH. In addition, the Indictment charges that TIMOTHY MONTGOMERY received a $20,000 check from RIDDICK as a fee for brokering the transaction.

The Indictment charges one count of bank fraud conspiracy against all of the defendants, nine counts of substantive bank fraud, each naming certain of the defendants, and three counts of money laundering conspiracy, each naming certain of the defendants.

According to journalists from the Virginia Pilot – the local angle news coverage – one of the checks Alexander wrote on the $850.000 account was made out to Marion Jones for $25.000 – a check which was endorsed and deposited into her account, but never paid out due to the $850.000 check not clearing.[1]

Marion Jones was not a suspect in this case, and the defendants – including Montgomery, Wells and Riddick – were presumed innocent until they were proven guilty. Three defendants prior to Montgomery in the case had pleaded guilty.

Montgomery first laid claim to the check deposited into Marion Jones’s account, but as it turned out, however, Marion Jones had lied to Federal investigators about having knowledge of the check, and she was charged with a felony in her criminal case.

Montgomery subsequently blamed Marion Jones for his having taken part in the illegal scheme, stating in court on 2008-May-13 that Marion Jones granted him “permission” to participate by her acquiescence on the matter when approached by Montgomery. Judge Karas debunked that claim, stating to Montgomery that there was no single, solitary shred of evidence that any of the other defendants or another person forced him to make the bad decisions he did.

Montgomery’s attorney, Robert W. McFarland, wrote in a court memo prior to Montgomery’s confession that Montgomery and Riddick were set up and taken advantage of due to having celebrity status.

“The high-profile nature of both Tim Montgomery as a world-class sprinter and Steve Riddick as a world-class trainer make them perfect victims for crooks, thieves and (Prince), who is a repeated convicted felon.”[2]

Montgomery sang another tune prior to the opening of the trial.

“I sincerely regret the role I played in this unfortunate episode,” Montgomery said in the statement released this morning by the attorneys.

“I have disappointed many people and for that I am truly sorry. I look forward to moving past this event and being a positive influence in my community in the future.”[3]

Montgomery’s guilty plea effectively removed Marion Jones from the courtroom as a witness in the case. Moreover, according to a statement from his lawyers, his plea did not require him to testify at the trial of his former coach, Steven Riddick, and other co-defendants.

Riddick, who claimed that he believed the checks were for payment toward training foreign athletes – and declined to testify in the case – believed that the case itself would have been a wash, and he’d resume his day-to-day training within a short period of time.

“I feel like I haven't done anything, so I feel confident about it,” Riddick told ESPN.com.”It'll probably run a couple weeks. Then, I'll be glad when it's over so I can get back to track and field business.”[4]

The case didn’t take the expected turn Riddick imagined, and the Olympic gold medallist’s defence lawyer Bryan Hoss tried having the case dismissed due to lack of federal evidence, with U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas denying those motions on 2007-May-3.

Hoss had even turned the blame on Riddick’s involvement on Montgomery.

“Tim Montgomery started brokering kilo-quantity transactions of drugs with these people,” Hoss said.

Montgomery's counsel, Timothy Heaphy, denied to the Associated Press Montgomery’s involvement with drugs.

“Mr. Riddick is under intense pressure, as he is facing serious federal charges. People in that situation frequently do and say desperate things,” Heaphy said in an e-mail to the AP. “Tim Montgomery is surprised and disappointed that Mr. Riddick has chosen to defend himself by making desperate and outlandish allegations like those made by his counsel in this trial.”[5]

Closing arguments began on Monday, 2007-May-7, with Hoss maintaining that there was reasonable doubt that Riddick was guilty of the charges – prosecutors failed to prove Riddick was not conned or tricked.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Walter Levy closed his case by stating that Riddick did conspire with others to steal money from banks by cashing counterfeit checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Riddick, who was found guilty, reported to prison on 2008-April-11, where he was sentenced to five years three months in prison on 2008-January-11 – the same day Marion Jones was sentenced for her involvement in this case as well as her BALCO perjury case.

Levy stated that he now knew that Riddick had not one single agreement to train any Kuwaiti athletes, and was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt after Riddick had deposited checks for $80.000, $375.000 and $450.000 into his account that were supposedly meant to pay for training for Kuwaiti athletes.

Wells, who was both Marion Jones’s and Montgomery's agent, aided Montgomery's scheme by depositing two of the checks, totalling $1.1 million, into accounts he controlled, court documents stated. He pled guilty earlier in the spring of 2007 in New York federal court to a felony charge of bank fraud and was ultimately ordered to 46 months in prison.

Montgomery was not free from the drug-dealing speculation, however, as he was arrested on Wednesday, 2008-April-30 an indictment which charged him with conspiracy to distribute heroin. That case carried with it a mandatory five-year spell in prison when Montgomery was found guilty and, ultimately sentenced on 2008-October-10. The evidences, according to Judge Karas in the check-fraud case, were compelling against Montgomery, though the pending case at the time was not used in determining his prison sentence in his check-fraud case.

Together, Montgomery will spend the next nine years of his life behind prison walls.

In his role at Wells Vector Sports Management, Wells is also an individual athlete agent who was feared to lose his Texas agent registration. The firm, according to the Associated Press, provided services for Marion Jones and a number of other track and field athletes and football players.[6]

Wells faces a review by a three-member USATF committee which is considering whether to decertify Wells for his involvement in the bank fraud case. If USATF disbars Wells, it will mark the first time an agent has been decertified through a committee process.

Wells has also represented 2005 IAAF World triple jump champion Walter Davis, 2004 Olympic 400-meter bronze medallist Derrick Brew, and 2004 Olympic 4x400m relay gold medallist Monique Henderson.

Marion Jones’s legal counsels have lived on the principle that cheats are to be absolutely and unconditionally discredited and distrusted. Her attorneys have maintained that those who cheat are to be discredited as viable or reliable sources of information, with the connotation that cheats will say and do anything to keep under the gun.

The irony in Riddick vs Montgomery–two staunch supporters of Marion Jones and each other– is beyond belief.

What is even more unbelievable is that Marion Jones chose Riddick in the first place following his having been charged in April 2000 with several counts of “forgery of documents submitted to the commonwealth for reimbursement” from 1996 to 1998–making his likelihood of direct involvement in the check fraud case even higher. As earlier stated, Riddick ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of forgery and was sentenced to probation.

Oddly enough, Hoss and Riddick pleaded with judge Karas for leniency. They filed a long list of Riddick’s accomplishments, including winning the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics, and at least eight letters of support to the courts.

“These letters paint a picture of Steve Riddick that the court was not able to see from the witnesses called at trial,” Hoss wrote in a letter to the judge.

“They depict an honest, caring and trustworthy individual who instills proper values in his athletes in the highest level of coaching in world track and field,” Hoss says in the letter.[7]

Judge Karas sentenced Riddick to 63 months in prison for his part in the scheme, despite the plea to be lenient in using his discretion to sentence.

The number of men who have been associated with cheating now runs at five-consecutive (Hunter, Montgomery, Francis, Riddick, Wells) for Marion Jones, who has had working or personal relationships associated with cheating. In two of those cases–both involving checks–Marion Jones had been perceived to have apparently held an open account used without her knowledge or authorisation. Her agent, the last of the lot, silently waved his white flag when confronted.

Riddick, the professed evader of previous drugs tests–or, better word, cheater–during his competition days came to Marion Jones defence at the leaking of the “A”-sample, stating to the effect that there was a conspiracy against Marion Jones. I believe Tim Montgomery had already used that line when he stated someone was out to frame him. As I recall, Trevor Graham used the same rationality when attempting to defend Gatlin in the media. Graham stated that Gatlin’s positive test was due to sabotage from Gatlin’s masseur. Graham has, as time has gone along, apparently recalled more and more details surrounding the Gatlin positive, The Washington Post reported Saturday, 2006-December-16. [8]

The article, a 2.335-word story written by Amy Shipley, is meant to shed light on the entire Gatlin affair, and to highlight the steps Graham was to have taken to prevent the masseur from poisoning his prize athlete’s career. The masseur, Graham states, was out to get Graham– through Gatlin, because of Graham’s having turned in the syringe to Don Catlin.

This was an act of revenge, Graham stated.

Readers gained an appreciation, at best, of Graham’s magical ability to instantly recall important details four months after they happen, and to associate Gatlin’s positive test with a woman’s hormone treatment gel.

---

Sources:

[1] The Virginian-Pilot, “Cleaning woman trusted son to carry on empire...”, 2006-09-03 [2] The Virginia-Pilot, “Money laundering trial set to begin for former NSU star, coach”, 2007-04-08 [3] The Virginian-Pilot, “Track star Montgomery pleads guilty in counterfeit check ring,” 2007-04-09 [4] ESPN.com, “Trial for Graham could be BALCO blockbuster”, 2007-04-06 [5] Associated Press, “Trial opens for Olympic champ with mention…wrongdoing…”, 2007-04-12 [6] Associated Press, “Agent to be sentenced for role in bank fraud”, 2007-05-17 [7] The Virginian-Pilot, “Disgraced Olympian, former NSU coach to be sentenced”, 2008-01-10 [8] The Washington Post, “Now for the Real Test”, 2006-12-16

Why You Shouldn't Believe Marion Jones: Vol. 52

Story by Eric.

This is the 52nd submission in a long series about Marion Jones, a former elite sprinter who won (stole) honour and earned (stole) endorsements, fame and fortune by method of fraud.

This story is being told in its entirety, because Marion Jones is unable to do it herself. Though parts of this story may be historical in nature, they are of essense to the sum of the whole insofar as they tell a story of a woman who is more complicit in the BALCO affairs and her own drug-taking than she has led on.

Marion Jones’s attorneys steadfastly concluded that the word of a cheat should not be weighed against a person who had passed a polygraph test (conducted by a former FBI Agent, Ronald Homer, who according to his the FindLaw website, conducted 1076 polygraph examinations during career with the FBI, including examinations throughout the United States and foreign countries. Investigative and polygraph matters included highly sensitive foreign counterintelligence, white-collar crime and all matters of criminal investigations.), and had never tested positive. They deduced that a “liar” cannot–and never will–tell the truth.

What Marion Jones’s counsel did not state was that the accuracy of polygraph tests has been disputed; several well-known cases demonstrating polygraphs–which measure increases in stress during questioning–demonstrates that polygraph testing can be misinterpreted.

Marion Jones passed polygraph tests.

Montgomery was found guilty of doping offences – though he had never failed a drugs test–by the testimony of a cheat, Kelli White, and from the evidence provided by a crook, Victor Conte. His truthful statements made under oath by himself–not being charged or found to be a court-proven liar–also nabbed him.

A cheat, at least in the eyes of the prosecuting body seeking penalty against Montgomery, was seen as an being an instrumental informant.

White’s evidence, as outlined verbatim from the CAS verdict, follows:

According Ms. White's evidence, in March 2001, while at an international meet in Portugal (no exact date was provided by the witness) she and Mr. Montgomery had "a small discussion about whether or not the Clear made our calves tight." Mr. Montgomery asked Ms. White, "Does it make your calves tight?" Ms. White responded in the affirmative. Mr. Montgomery, still in her presence, then placed a telephone call to someone who may or may not have been Mr. Conte (Ms. White believes that it was Mr. Conte) to whom he relayed the information that "she said that it makes her calves tight too". According to Ms. White, there was not the slightest doubt as to the substance about which she and Mr. Montgomery were speaking and which they both acknowledged had the effect of making their calves tight’ they were talking about the Clear.

It is essential to note that this evidence of what USADA claims constitutes a direct admission of Mr. Montgomery's guilt, is uncontroverted.

Counsel for Respondent may have questioned Ms. White's motives in offering her testimony concerning Mr. Montgomery's use of the Clear and, more generally, his relationship with BALCO. They may have sought (without success) to impugn her honesty and to draw attention to the witness' own history of involvement with BALCO and her efforts to conceal that involvement. However, the Panel has already declared its finding with respect to Ms. White's credibility as a witness in these proceedings and its view that she is telling the truth.

What counsel for Mr. Montgomery did not do was in any way undermine Ms. White’s evidence regarding her conversation with Mr. Montgomery in March 2001. The evidence of that conversation, which the Panel considers to be clear and compelling, thus stands uncontroverted. It is also, as indicated above, sufficient in and of itself to find Respondent guilty of doping.[1]

Marion Jones should not shed blood for Tim Montgomery’s misdeeds. He, himself, testified under oath of his wrongdoings.

However, was Tim Montgomery adept enough to wear such a hardened game-face with Marion Jones–who unequivocally asserted Montgomery’s innocence–that he was able to hold a top secret agenda from her, but let his entire career and relationship slip by talking to an associate about his drug cheating? Was Tim Montgomery sleek enough to lure Marion Jones away from Trevor Graham, and into the waiting hands of a crooked steroids chemist? Is there any compelling reason that Montgomery–who is not known to have taken his mid-November 2000 trip to the BALCO laboratories in Burlingame, CA with Marion Jones–should shield Marion Jones from his drugs usage, but yield to the temptation to discuss it with one of her 100m competitors, a person with whom he has no relationship?

Montgomery, citing Conte, made an inference under oath that Marion Jones used the clear, and had done so in Sydney.

Marion Jones, on her athletics deathbed, confessed of having taken “the clear”.

Montgomery, himself, stated Marion Jones had a working relationship with Conte during the Sydney Olympic Games. Conte, on his own accord, stated he provided Marion Jones performance-enhancing substances, a fact which Montgomery backed up during his Grand Jury testimony.

Those supporting Marion Jones’s ignorance claim had a hard time explaining away such connections between her and steroids pushers.

Marion Jones’s attorney on record during the Grand Jury hearings, Richard Burton, not commenting on the drugs inference, stated that Montgomery’s claims supported their stance that Marion Jones had no connection to Victor Conte–though Montgomery claimed Conte as stating that Marion Jones would fare well in Sydney due to “the clear”.

“This was the magic potion,” Montgomery told the Grand Jury.

Montgomery quoted Conte as saying, “Watch the 100 meters. Watch what Chryste gonna do. Watch what Alvin going to do in the 400. And watch what Marion going to do. ... You will see how powerful it is.”

Montgomery was not asked if Jones had used banned substances.[2]

Montgomery’s last statement above, “And watch what Marion going to do. ... You will see how powerful it is”, infers three things: 1) Marion Jones was going to do something. 2) Something, an aid, was going to be used in conjunction with her performing. 3) That object or aid was going to be powerful.

Marion Jones did do something in Sydney. She accomplished those feats with an aid, and it was powerful–just as Montgomery had indicated.

Montgomery’s admission above is that “the clear” was powerful, and sprinters Chryste Gaines and Alvin Harrison would demonstrate on the track the persuasive effects “the clear” had. Montgomery also adds that Conte stated Marion Jones should also be hugely regarded; one should also expect–in addition to what Gaines and Harrison did, two athletes who, shortly thereafter, were suspended for drugs usage–that Marion Jones would demonstrate a significant level of power from the drug named “the clear”.

Conte, himself, put life to those statements in his own words:

“We'd had a lot of success since the previous August, after I'd arranged for her to receive various performance enhancers, including The Clear, a steroid that later became famous as THG, and nutritional supplements. She was on all of it at the 2000 Games in Sydney, when she won three gold medals and two bronzes. I tell you this knowing Marion passed a lie detector test saying it's not true. All that shows me is lie detectors don't work.”[3]

Montgomery had, two years following the Olympic Games–during an IAAF press conference leading up to the 2002 World Cup in Madrid, stated he knew, factually speaking–without a reasonable doubt, and in no uncertain terms–that Marion Jones, his partner, would break the world record:

“I read and study an awful lot about the sport and I know for a fact that Marion Jones will break the women’s World Record. My prediction for the weekend is that she will better her personal best.”[4]

One may take Montgomery’s words with a grain of salt–as if comparing what he stated to that of the heavyweight champion of the world making bold predictions in a pre-bout press conference what round he’d knock out his opponent. One could also take into consideration that perhaps the weather, wind and bird-chirping were all aligned up exactly as Marion Jones had imagined they would the day she’d break the world record (as stated to The New York Times).

However, to the contrary, one can couple Montgomery’s “Project World Record”, with a man unable to keep his mouth closed. He proved to be a person who didn’t keep a lid on his secrets.

Montgomery has already demonstrated that his mouth ran at a faster rate of speed than did his feet – or at least was unable to stay in the blocks when the gun was raised, a man with a red flag stood behind him, and the entire world was looking on. He has false-started on a grand occasion–costing him his personal best time, each placing he had earned during his cheating run, his world record, and his credibility.

Tim Montgomery reacted to gunfire in 0,104 seconds Saturday afternoon, the 14th day of September 2002, and powered his legs 100m down a red all-weather track with white lane dividers in Paris in 9,78 seconds–the fastest time any human being should ever legally have legally run at that point in history. It was a new world and American record, eclipsing 0,01 seconds from countryman and rival, Maurice Greene’s 9,79 personal best. Montgomery’s reaction to the gun was just under the allowable, and the wind, +2,0 metres/second, was at the limit for record purposes.

(Note: Jamaican Usain Bolt, a 200m specialist, lowered the 100m world record down to 9,69 in the Olympic final in Beijing in August in his first year contesting the distance).

Montgomery earned $100.000 for his victory–the final race in the IAAF Grand Prix series, $50.000 for winning the race, and $100.000 for setting the world record. Hicham El Guerrouj, the 1.500m, mile, 2.000m and multiple world champion, had run 3.29,27–a championship record which propelled him temporarily into the lead over hurdler Felix Sanchez, but he was denied the grand prix title due to Montgomery’s world-record victory race.

El Guerrouj finished 12-0 on the season in eight 1.500m races (six which were under 3.30) and four mile races. It was the second-consecutive year El Guerrouj had gone undefeated.

Marion Jones ran 10,90 into a -0,3 m/s that weekend for the victory, far from her 10,65-second personal best time.

Marion Jones stood side-by-side with her boyfriend that afternoon, sharing the excitement of his victory, his joy and his record time, while winning the overall Grand Prix title, herself. She stated in an interview after Montgomery’s race that he was a technician who stayed up hours reviewing his races, and that Montgomery was often overlooked on the international scene.

He would forever be remembered, never to be disassociated with being a deceptive young man.

Montgomery had, according to ESPN The Magazine, stated during an honorary meeting in his name in his hometown following his world record, “of all the bodies made by God, this is the fastest in history". Montgomery mustered up enough public game face to disguise his back-door issues.

ESPN The Magazine states that a journalist in the press area after the race in Paris asked Montgomery if he had watched the Ben Johnson world record in Seoul.

Marion Jones read between the lines and snapped at the journalist, stating that neither she–nor he–had been dependent on drugs to advance their careers, and any reference to drugs would overshadow his accomplishment.

“It's unfortunate that you have such an incredible performance and someone will immediately suspect something,” she said. “We're all quite aware that we are proponents of a drug-free sport, so let's keep it at that.”[5]

No, Ms. Jones, let’s not keep it at that.

Let’s actually go a step further.

The United States Attorney Southern District of New York, on 2006-April-28, published an important document for immediate release:

U.S. ANNOUNCES ARREST OF U.S. TRACK STAR TIMOTHY MONTGOMERY, HIS TRACK COACH, AND 13 OTHERS IN MASSIVE BANK FRAUD AND MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME [6]

According to the public record, Tim Montgomery, along with Marion Jones’s latest coach, Steve Riddick, and her agent, Charles Wells, were charged with participating in conspiracy to defraud numerous banks by depositing into accounts at those banks stolen, altered and counterfeit checks, as well as proceeds from such checks – totalling approximately $5 million, and to then launder the proceeds from these checks through their various accounts.

Marion Jones was complicit to a degree of not alerting Federal investigators of having had knowledge of one of the checks deposited into her account and committed a felony by perjuring herself in the matter.

Montgomery was ultimately sent to prison for 46 months for his involvement in the illegal scheme, and was ordered to pay the bank from which he stole the money $375.000. He was also sentenced to five-years’ probation.

Wells, who received a six-month home confinement sentence, subsequently had his agent status suspended by USATF for two years (dated to 2007-March-22), though the national governing body has no jurisdiction to require athletes to sign specifically with registered agents. The downturn for any athlete who is represented by Wells during his suspension is that the athlete could be refused entry into certain invitational meetings.

Montgomery turned himself in to authorities in Norfolk after a Federal agent called to alert him of the indictment. He was released on a $10.000 bond after appearing in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, VA, but was back in prison during sentencing due to an unrelated drugs case (next entry in this series).

Trial was to begin on Tuesday, 2007-April-10 at the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan, but Montgomery pleaded guilty the day before the trial to charges stemming from his deposit of bad checks worth $1.800.000, a judge's law clerk said (U.S. v. Douglas Shyne, 05-cr-1067 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District). He was sentenced on 2008-May-16.

---

Sources:

[1] CAS 2004/O/645, 2005-12-13
[2] San Francisco Chronicle, “Sprinter admitted use of BALCO 'magic potion'”, 2004-06-24
[3] ESPN The Magazine, “Last Laugh,” 2004-12-20
[4] IAAF Madrid 2002 News, 2002-09-19
[5] ESPN The Magazine, “Nowhere to run”, 2005-06-07
[6] U.S. Attorney’s Office, Public Information Office, 2006-04-28

Why You Shouldn't Believe Marion Jones: Vol. 51

Story by Eric.

This is the 51st submission in a long series about Marion Jones, a former elite sprinter who won (stole) honour and earned (stole) endorsements, fame and fortune by method of fraud.

This story is being told in its entirety, because Marion Jones is unable to do it herself. Though parts of this story may be historical in nature, they are of essense to the sum of the whole.

My last entry concluded with Dr. Werner Franke, a German anti-doping official and mollecular biologist, stating that there was no reason for Marion Jones's T/E ratio to be tested. The New York Times illuminates more light on the urine testing allegations with the following information:

A government affidavit released in February said that 98 checks had been written to Quest from BALCO from Sept. 13, 2000, through May 20, 2002, and that 33 of them contained the notation “steroids.” The affidavit noted that Victor Conte Jr., the founder of BALCO, had made Internet postings “referencing Quest as a credible lab for measuring testosterone.”

The fact that certain Quest labs performed blood and urine tests for steroids, the government affidavit said, suggested “'the possibility that Conte is sending his athlete clients' blood or urine samples to Quest in order to determine whether the presence of steroids can be detected.” The BALCO documents included urine tests sent to Quest just before and after the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia; a calendar containing the initials M.J. and letters like C, G, E and I, which anti-doping officials said could be a coded schedule of drug use; and a handwritten ledger with the name Marion J. and what appeared to be T/E test results, as well as references like “IOC.”[1]

The New York Times continues by stating that, according to the documents found in a BALCO file bearing Marion Jones name and shown to them by Marion Jones attorneys, a urine test was collected by Quest Diagnostics on 2000-September-13, just prior to the Sydney Olympics.

According to Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Victor Uralets, the director of sports testing at Quest, had mixed feelings about BALCO as a client, but had never met Conte.

“It seemed to be quite legitimate,” Uralets said. “We didn't know what they were doing. We thought he was testing athletes, but I didn't know the level of athletes. I was never comfortable with this client, but I had no reason to stop relations with them because I had no evidence they were pre-testing.

“But knowing what I know now, I don't want to be associated in any way with Victor Conte.”

Conte explained how the tests were carried out.

“All they got was a number and (the notation) 'for research purposes only,' ” said Conte, who kept a key at his office matching names to the numbers.[2]

IRS Special agent Novitzky, notating the testimony provided by Conte on site at the BALCO lab on 2003-September-3, and prepared as a Memorandum of Interview to the IRS Criminal Investigation Division two days later, recounted details similar to the same claim identified in the previous entry, though Marion Jones was not listed in the account.

The IRS Memo also states that Conte, himself – during a non-search warrant consent search of a storage facility in Burlingame – pointed out two boxes to Special Agent Erwin Rogers of the IRS-CID containing medical records of many of the athletes involved in the BALCO affair. According to the memo, the athlete files were seized and transported by Special Agent Wendy Bergland, and an inventory of those items – including confiscated drugs and substances in the locker – was conducted by IRS-CID Special agent Mike Wilson.

(Note: Conte argued in court that he did not voluntarily consent to the government’s search of the off-site storage locker on 2003-September-03, and that those records should be suppressed. The government had the burden of showing that consent to a search sans warrant against Conte’s premise was voluntary. The Circuit Judge utilized several factors when determining whether consent was voluntary, including (1) whether Conte was in custody, (2) whether the arresting officers had their guns drawn during the arrest, (3) whether Miranda warnings had been given to Conte, (4) whether Conte was told he had a right not to consent, and (5) whether Conte was told a search warrant could be obtained.

No single factor was condemning, and the court determined the voluntary context by considering the totality of the surrounding circumstances. Conte was granted an evidentiary hearing to determine whether he had voluntarily consented to the government’s search of the off-site storage locker, but later withdrew his request for that hearing. A confession may be excluded because of improprieties by the police, or because it was not recorded by an audio machine. An accused such as Conte may say that the confession is true, and it can still properly be excluded.)[3]

Another urine test, according to the documents mentioned by The New York Times, was collected on 2000-October-3, just after the Games. Both, according to the document were well within the acceptable T/E ratio of 6:1, or 6.

Marion Jones’s attorneys maintained that she was travelling on the collection dates in 2000 – a fact which is highly unbelievable considering Marion Jones was doping during that same time period.

However, have any of her attorneys made available to the public any receipt which could support this claim? Did Marion Jones make her own travel arrangements and subsequently discard her transactional records, or did a travel agency arrange the trip for her? Did her legal team ever back up with facts in the form of a verifiable alibi the information they were attempting to provide as proof? If Marion Jones was travelling on those collection dates in 2000, would she have been able to provide a sufficient, chronological account of events which could corroborate the validity of this claim?

A third collection date of 2001-06-06, where documents showed two urine tests collected on that same day – the second of which demonstrated significantly high levels of hormones and an unaccepted T/E ratio, may possibly have been two different people – neither being Marion Jones, they stated.

Marion Jones’s attorneys, known for dissecting evidence and facts, did not rule out the urine tested belonging to Marion Jones through their inference, however. Had Marion Jones, a strong proponent of a drug-free sport, ever accounted for this in her own words?

She accounted for a blanket of suspicions in her own words, namely that she was a drugs cheat.

One other item Marion Jones’s team disclosed to The New York Times from the evidence file they state was handed over to them from USADA was a blood test result taken at a Virginia laboratory 2001-March-28 which did not show any abnormalities. Her attorneys told The New York Times that Marion Jones had never been to American Medical Laboratories in Virginia – the place where the blood sample was apparently taken.

Again, as they have become accustomed to doing, her legal staff provided no immediate and final blow to the theory by stating in no uncertain terms that there was not even a possibility that Marion Jones could even have had her blood sent to the laboratory. Instead, they attacked a chain of command form, sloppy ledgers and identification codes which are to make the appearance of her guilt slim to none.

On the opposite side of this coin, would it not make sense to have some marker – though not a real identification – in order to know whose blood and/or urine samples were being processed without having to create a true and living paper trail back to the donor source?

Nichols, one of Marion Jones’s lawyers, said that he requested Marion Jones’s personal physician, Richard Ferro, who became her physician in 2001, to write letters on Marion Jones’s behalf stating that she didn’t use performance-enhancing drugs, and that Ferro concluded that the blood and urine samples did not show (detectable) steroids use.

The New York Times, in covering this story, states that Nichols said Ferro never tested Marion Jones for performance-enhancing drugs, because “he did not need to,”[4] yet you, dear reader, are reminded again that Marion Jones’s legal team had every opportunity at this very juncture to have her tested specifically for performance-enhancing drugs, and have those results stored and evaluated for later use as they had requested USADA to do to prove, analytically, that Marion Jones had nothing illegal in her system.

Moreover, even if Ferro had checked for steroids, it is highly unlikely he, a personal physician, would have discovered an undetectable drug in “the clear”, which had the sole purpose of being manipulative and unseen.

The Boston Globe, also taking note to the Marion Jones’s stern denial of Hunter’s accusations, wrote that Ferro stated Marion Jones’s blood and urine samples showed nothing out of the ordinary and that he did “not believe that Marion used any type of banned performance-enhancing agents.”[5]

This “expert witness”, a personal physician who is called upon to discuss whether or not his patient showed the signs of taking performance-enhancing drugs, declared her innocence by providing his opinion in the absence of either professional experience or performance-enhancement drug testing. Did Ferro have the sufficient knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education to support testimony in the form of an expert opinion on performance-enhancing drugs?

Ferro’s merit list does include helping correct a hamstring problem plaguing Montgomery which he had developed in 1998, though there is the strongest of all possibilities and plausibility that Ferro had never, ever one single time seen the designer drug masks, agents and filters THG, EPO and other BALCO drugs were hiding behind. To his untrained, naked eye, he didn’t have a reason to believe that Marion Jones had used any type of banned substances, as none of them would have shown signs of life on his radar, so-to-speak.

What qualification, therefore, did Ferro have to speak with authority on the matter of disguised performance-enhancing drugs as they may or may not have related to Marion Jones outside of a belief she had not been involved in doping? Had he ever provided similar expertise to substantiate the claims a defence team was making of a client’s claim of being drug-free when the nature of the drugs usage was meant to deliberately deceive with extreme prejudice?

Collins, another one of the Graham-based athletes caught in a spider web of accusations without the adverse analytical test to back up USADA claims, was eventually found guilty of having used performance-enhancing drugs by means of the calendar entries, e-mail messages seized as a part of the BALCO investigation in which Collins admitted to using THG and a cream to mask its usage along with prior blood and urine tests from IOC-accredited labs confirming her admitted usage – and also proving a pattern of doping.

Collins, like Tim Montgomery and Chryste Gaines – two other athletes who refused to testify in their cases, and both accused of doping in the absence of analytical adverse findings – refused to testify at the hearing or provide any exculpatory explanation of her statements and other documents evidencing her guilt.

Collins presented neither any expert testimony nor other evidence to provide an alternative explanation for the incriminating test results. There is no Fifth Amendment protection of rights against self-incrimination in the CAS jurisdiction, and Collins’s refusal to testify was asked to be adversely held against her by the USADA (see Baxter v. Palmigiano, 425 U.S. 308, 318 (1976)), which USADA requested of CAS to view and judge as an adverse inference.

Collins’s attorneys had stated prior to her trial – upon receiving the notification letter from USADA, the following:

“Allegations of anti-doping rules are easy to bring. Now comes the hard part for U.S.A.D.A. They're going to have to prove this. Michelle Collins has passed every drug test she has ever taken.”[6]

As had Tim Montgomery.

And had Marion Jones up to the day she owned up to being a cheat despite having passed those tests.

As a matter of fact, Alvin Harrison had also passed each of his tests.

And, if one takes it just one a step further, one sees that Chryste Gaines had as well.

Each of these athletes, including Collins, has been banned from the sport in the absence of an analytical finding.

Everyone except Marion Jones – despite more compelling witness evidence against her than was provided by White against Montgomery, and the refusal of these witnesses to testify on their own behalf.

Marion Jones tied the noose on her own career by coming as clean as she determined necessary with information about having lied to Federal investigators, which, in the hidden meaning of the what she stated in her news conference, was that she took drugs.

Franke, who, along with his lab worker, Hans Heid – who had been retained to represent Bernard Lagat in his CAS EPO proceedings, and who had, along with Heid, clashed with WADA over each other’s strict interpretations of rHuEPO test analysis, had raised the question several times in German news reports.

Franke stated that he believed that the USADA and USATF had been intimidated by Marion Jones’s attorneys throughout the BALCO process – despite the “sufficient indications and testimonies around Marion Jones to ban”.[7]

One basis of this book is to ensure that her attorneys have not had a chance to continue doing that, and to point out at which steps one should have not permitted their statements to have gone unchallenged.

White had also tested negative, save a test for a prescription drug called modafinil, which she stated was for a sleeping disorder, but later recanted.

None of the Victor Conte-prescribed drugs – “the clear,” insulin, EPO, growth hormone, “the cream” and a thyroid hormone called T-3 – had ever been found in suspects Montgomery, White nor Collins.

EPO had been found in Marion Jones’s body.

White had earlier testified about her use of performance-enhancing drugs before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, S. 529/U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Tuesday, 2005-May-24.

Excerpted are statements White made during that testimony:

“Shortly thereafter [her graduation from the University of Tennessee, and return home to California to train under Remi Korchemny], in December, 2000, my coach introduced me to BALCO founder Victor Conte. Conte initially gave me a package containing both legal supplements, as well as a substance which later became known as the clear or the designer steroid THG. At the time, I was unaware that anything I received from Mr. Conte was a prohibited performance enhancing substance as I was told by both my coach and Mr. Conte that the vial they had given me contained flaxseed oil. A few weeks later, Mr. Conte admitted to me that the substance he had given me was indeed not flaxseed oil, but rather a prohibited substance that if not taken properly, could yield a positive drug test. I immediately ceased using the liquid because at that time in my career I did not believe it was necessary to take performance enhancing drugs to be competitive. I competed over the next two years without the use of any performance enhancing substances despite being constantly urged to do so. I was continuously being told that the usage of performance enhancing substances were necessary to be competitive because everyone else was doing so.”

“In March of 2003, I made a choice that I will forever regret. I visited Mr. Conte at his lab which was near my home, and we sat down and devised a program to utilize performance enhancing drugs in my training and competition. At that time, I began taking EPO, the clear (or THG), the cream and stimulants. I remained on this program over the course of four months, and with the help of Mr. Conte, I was able to pass 17 drug tests both in and out of competition while utilizing these prohibited performance enhancing substances.”

“A few weeks after the World Championships, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies raided the BALCO Laboratory. A few months later, I admitted to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) officials what I had done as I have outlined for you today. I received a two-year ban from competition for my actions, as well as lost all of the results from my previous four years of competition. I also agreed to assist USADA in its mission to clean up sport, and now offer to be of service to this Committee in any way you see fit. I believe athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs are hurting themselves, cheating the public and betraying our youth. A performance-enhancing drug user trades his or her overall health, well-being and integrity for a shot at fame and fortune.”

“My attorney, Jerrold Colton, and I have worked with assisting USADA in its efforts, and we believe this Committee should further support USADA as the fight is a very difficult one. Being mindful that my use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs was not detected through the extensive testing I received, USADA needs the resources to go further in its fight to detect the people who are breaking the rules. The BALCO scandal may not have been discovered without a competitor’s coach anonymously sending a syringe of THG to the USADA testers which ultimately led to the discovery of this heretofore unknown steroid.”[8]

In a twist of fate, White, a drug-cheat and a deceiver, stands to be the shining star in the BALCO bust by stating that she did, solemnly swear that she took undetectable substances which would be prohibited at all times had they been known – substances which should never be used.

“Kelli White accepted accountability for her actions and she is able to look herself in the mirror and the world will forgive her,” said Travis Tygart, USADA's general counsel. “These two [Tim Montgomery and Chryste Gaines], for the rest of their lives, will go down as not only using drugs but doing everything possible -- and at great expense to clean athletes -- to avoid the truth.”[9]

---

Sources:

[1] The New York Times, “German Expert Warns BALCO Investigators,” 2004-06-26 [2] San Diego Union Tribune, “San Diego’s connection to BALCO scandal”, 2007-11-22 [3] United States of America v Victor Conte, Jr, CR04-44, Plaintiff’s Summary Judgment Motion [4] The New York Times, “Jones’s Lawyers Rebut Claims”, 2004-07-24 [5] The Boston Globe, “Representatives retort for Jones”, 2004-07-24 [6] The New York Times, “Drug Accusations Outlined Against 4 Elite Athletes,” 2004-06-09 [7] Der Spiegel Online, “Dopingexperte fordert Jones-Sperre”, 2006-09-08 [8] Kelli White testimony, given at a Full Committee Hearing: S. 529/USADA, 2005-05-24 [9] San Francisco Chronicle, “Montgomery banned two years for doping”, 2005-12-14

Why You Shouldn't Believe Marion Jones: Vol. 50

Story by Eric.

This is the 50th submission in a long series about Marion Jones, a former elite sprinter who won (stole) honour and earned (stole) endorsements, fame and fortune by method of fraud.

This story is being told in its entirety, because Marion Jones is unable to do it herself. Though parts of this story may be historical in nature, they are of essense to the sum of the whole.

The CAS Panel convicted Tim Montgomery on 2005-December-13 of a doping offence in the absence of any “analytic adverse finding” – based on the testimony of a woman who was a known drug cheat. Montgomery and his attorneys had every opportunity granted and afforded them to cause doubt to the veracity of White’s claims, but failed to prove White was, indeed, misleading in – or lying about – her testimony. Montgomery had an opportunity to testify in the matter, but remained silent, conceding to White and her own testimony.

In a parallel congruent case, the CAS Panel also convicted Chryste Gaines of a doping violation in the absence of any “analytical adverse finding” – based on Kelli White’s testimony. Gaines, as had Montgomery, declined (by right) to testify in her case, and left the evidences presented by White unchallenged. The best Gaines’s attorneys could do was to attempt to discredit White as a witness, which, the CAS Panel stated, was done unsuccessfully.

Gaines would later disclose that she felt White sold her out, and they stopped being friends.

The main crux of the Montgomery and Gaines claims against USADA in the absence of their own testimonies were protests that USADA had no jurisdiction to seek prosecution for non-analytical positives.

CAS disagreed in its ruling, citing that both parties had been bound by USADA protocol as members of USATF – with USATF Regulation 10 clearly and unambiguously referencing USATF being bound by USADA’s doping and adjudication procedures established by WADA. Moreover, both Montgomery and Gaines had acknowledged that they were bound by USADA drug-testing protocol in situations involving adverse analytical findings, or “positive tests”. It was concluded that whether it was USATF or USADA which brought the charges against the athletes, it would have only changed the identity of the prosecuting body in non-analytical cases.

How did any of this affect Marion Jones?

Montgomery had testified under oath during the Grand Jury hearing that it was his understanding that Gaines was to have provided her approval to Conte for Marion Jones to begin the steroids program, as they were competing in the same event, the 100m dash. Marion Jones was introduced into the picture, Montgomery testified, when Graham – who has stated he had no knowledge of any of his athletes ever taking banned drugs – began a working relationship with Conte in 2000. Montgomery testified that Graham stated to Conte that Montgomery should not be the aim of the steroids push, rather, Marion Jones, who had an incredible opportunity to strike it big in Sydney – again, leading back to Gaines.

“... So Chryste, from my understanding, had told Mr. Conte that 'Whatever you charge her, if you give me a cut of it, then I don't mind,'” a transcript of his grand jury testimony shows him saying. “So, I don't know how much the check was for, I don't know if she ever got her cut, but that's how the agreement came for him to work with Marion.”[1]

Montgomery refused to testify in his CAS case, which, having done so, allowed his and White’s previous statements to render it unnecessary for the CAS Panel – composed of President L. Yves Fortier, CC, QC, Barrister in Montréal, Canada; Arbitrators Christopher L. Campbell, Esq., Attorney-at-law in Fairfax, Virginia; Peter Leaver, QC, Barrister in London, England; and Ad hoc Clerk Stephen L. Drymer, Attorney-at-law from Montréal – to consider if other evidences gathered from BALCO documents were conclusive enough to prosecute.

The only witnesses Montgomery’s legal counsel called were to provide expert opinion on the blood and urine tests USADA had produced as evidence; Montgomery provided no fact witness, nor did he, himself, provide any evidences to the Panel.

Gaines also refused to testify despite the fact that she, too, was given time to consider whether refusing to do so could draw adverse inferences upon her, and was provided an opportunity to reconsider her position.

The CAS Panel considered that all such other evidence by itself could not demonstrate that Montgomery was guilty of a doping offence, though they concluded doping offences could be proved by a variety of means.

USADA used documents and evidence (a schedule for using banned performance-enhancing drugs) from the investigation into BALCO in making its non-analytical positive (declaring an athlete guilty in the absence of a positive test) case against Montgomery. The US Attorney’s office provided those documents to the US Senate Commerce Committee, which, in turn, provided those to the USADA.

Again, how does their refusals to testify on their own behalf – along with that of Michelle Collins, who would also be banned for a non-analytical positive test – justify dragging Marion Jones’s name through this part of the BALCO scandal? Why bring up Marion Jones in relation to Gaines and Montgomery?

Gaines’s attorney, Cameron Myler, had rightly queried why Marion Jones was not one of the initial four athletes who were singled out by BALCO ties and not charged with a doping offense.

“I know U.S.A.D.A. has more documents on some athletes than others,” said Cameron Myler, the lawyer for Gaines. But, she added: “If U.S.A.D.A. doesn't bring a case against Marion, it brings into question the credibility and authenticity of the documents they intend to rely on. If this is not enough to bring charges against Marion, why should it be different for other athletes, given that the level of evidence is the same.”[2]

Gaines could have had a more immediate and direct impact on making an action item out of that question, rather than having her attorney pose it. What was the missing ingredient central to this theme? In its most rudimentary form, it simply boiled down to personal testimony.

In the Montgomery and Gaines cases, it meant not having to incriminate Marion Jones by introducing her name into the records either through testimony or by evidences which may have been cross-examined and opened up a direct firing line to her; it meant not having to connect the dots to the BALCO documents which, according to USADA, individually or, when linked together, established Montgomery’s doping.

Collins also refused to testify in her case, which helped the Arbitral Tribunal in her case to draw adverse inferences by that refusal. It did not draw conclusions on her refusal to testify, rather based their decisions on the preponderances of evidences provided – more than 62 exhibits to which Collins did not protest. Those evidences are similar to ones which have continued to bear very close similarities to what federal agents in the BALCO case state were collected on Marion Jones, namely memoranda of FBI interviews with Conte and Valente and documents collected from BALCO which included a calendar with the initials “MC” among other documentation named.

According to reports, initials “MJ” were are also found at the BALCO headquarters on what was widely believed to be a doping calendar for Marion Jones, with several designations provided for a range of drugs to be used on given days. Marion Jones’s attorneys, stating the “MJ” could stand for any number of people, casted doubt on the suggestion those belonged to Marion Jones by a reference to a 100m time much quicker than Marion Jones had ever run.

USADA had deciphered what it said was a complicated series of coded words and letters on the calendar which pointed to illicit performance-enhancing drugs, though the codes, themselves, changed on an individual athlete basis, and some of the products had more than one code association. However, without Conte’s testimony, those documents were not immediately available to prove guilt or to rule on a non-analytical positive, as they could not be obtained; Conte refused to give evidence on the ground of self-incrimination, and eventually refused to co-operate with authorities as part of his plea agreement.

However, in court documents released by the Federal government on 2007-December-21, the “M.J.” initials did, indeed, belong to Marion Jones – a fact which BALCO Vice President James Valente acknowledged to investigators, stating that he created the calendars, and knew specifically of the “Marion J” entries as being Marion Jones; the doping ledger, he stated, represented “the use of these drugs by these client-athletes, as well as the results of the tests for the presence of anabolic steroids conducted on these client-athletes' urine samples.”[3]

The Federal government’s document states that Marion Jones took EPO, human growth hormone and THG using drops and injections in 2000 and 2001.

Five years later, in 2006, Marion Jones had a test result demonstrate use of EPO – a drug she vehemently denied having ever heard of.

According to The New York Times, some of the coded letters and the documents described in a letter to USADA letter to Michelle Collins, also suspected of drugs use based on BALCO-related documents and testimony, were similar to initials and documents shown to them two weeks earlier by Marion Jones’s attorneys. Marion Jones’s attorneys questioned the authenticity of those documents, which were given to them by USADA.

The Collins letter also said there was evidence she used a blood-boosting agent known as EPO, known by the initial E. The same initial appeared on a calendar shown to The Times by Jones's lawyers.

But Jones's lawyers, and Montgomery's lawyer, both have said that there is no proof of who wrote such documents, where they originated and what they mean. Her representatives also said the coded letters could have benign explanations and refer to vitamins. Presumably, Collins can be expected to make a similar argument, if she does not seek to strike a deal with the anti-doping agency.[4]

Special Agent Novitzky, indicating recorded notes found in Conte’s e-mails, shed light on what Conte stated some of the coding represented:

Collins was also accused of having her blood and urine samples, found in BALCO records, analyzed for no apparent legitimate medical reason in what was thought to be an apparent attempt to gauge the impact of various steroids. The USADA wrote to Collins that there was no legitimate medical reason for her to have her urine samples analysed for epitestosterone.

Howard Jacobs had stated that short of any admission of guilt by an athlete, it would be really tough to have an athlete suspended without a positive drug test – a point also raised in the USADA vs. Tim Montgomery case, whereby it was contested that USADA’s sole authority to investigate and prosecute instances of alleged doping violations stemmed from its USOC contract, which was stated to merely confer USADA’s jurisdiction to investigate and seek adjudicate in matters related to USADA’s drug testing function, not non-analytical positive cases. The CAS ruled differently, stating that USADA – rather than USATF – had the right to prosecute, as USATF falls under the USADA protocol.

However, that did not stop the USADA from accusing Collins based on what they considered evidence they’d received which they believed proved her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt – though the “evidence” was purely non-analytical in the absence of a positive test – evidence which included Kelli White’s testimony.

White testified that when Collins beat her in a 2003-February indoor race, she thanked Conte on national television. White then is quoted as having approached Conte about starting a programme “similar to Collins’s. White made an observation to Conte that Collins had grown bigger in muscle size before that victory, upon which Conte is stated to have said that Collins was using “THG, EPO and “the Cream””.

The CAS determined that the blood and urine tests taken together demonstrated a pattern of doping whereby there were extreme variations in both the hematocrit levels and T/E ratios. CAS determined that all three of USADA’s experts provided credible witness testimony, and Collins’s provided no counter support in her defence; Collins’s attorney could provide no explanation of the extreme variances outside of the normal ranges. [5]

After a very reluctant surrender to USADA after her lengthy and stark denials, Collins finally came clean and began helping USADA in order to have a one-year reduction in her ban so that she might be eligible for a comeback in time for the Beijing Olympics.

“I wanted to clear my conscience,” she said. “I felt like it was time to come forward and be free of this.”[6]

Collins has been providing information about other coaches and athletes for the USADA and others in the anti-doping movement, and speaking to children about the undue harm that performance-enhancing drugs can do.

“Right now, I train as if I'm training for the Olympic trials and the Olympic Games," said Collins. “If it happens, great. If not, no big deal. But I am training.”

According to documents, Marion Jones – who has admitted to doping – had apparently also had her urine samples express delivered to a laboratory in San Diego, CA to test for testosterone and also for epitestosterone – used primarily to fraudulently defeat testosterone testing.

The laboratory, Quest Diagnostics, which was located at a Mission Valley office complex at the time prior to relocating to Las Vegas, was a witness in the BALCO hearings, but not a suspect. It also had an IOC-accreditation, and would not have risked its reputation to enable drug cheats, stated Dr. Barry Sample, the director of science and technology for the drug testing part of the laboratory.

“It is contrary to our policy to be involved in pretesting.”[7]

Dr. Werner Franke, who is a German anti-doping official, and is also a cell and molecular biologist of the University of Heidelberg and the department manager at the German Krebstforschungszentrum (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, wrote in a letter dated 2004-June-17 to Kevin V. Ryan, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California prosecuting the BALCO case, that there was absolutely no conventional medical purpose for several urine samples, said to belong to Marion Jones, to have been sent to the San Diego lab to be analyzed for relative levels of the hormones testosterone and epitestosterone.

Franke wrote to Ryan that there “is no clinical test for the determination of the T/E ratio – and no need for it.”[8]

______________________

Sources:

[1] San Francisco Chronicle, “Sprinter admitted use of BALCO ‘magic potion’”, 2004-06-24 [2] The New York Times, “Facing Marion Jones And a Lack of Options”, 2004-06-10 [3] ESPN.com, “Court documents released in Jones’ doping case,” 2007-12-21[4] The New York Times, “Drug Accusations Outlined Against 4 Elite Athletes,” 2004-06-09 [5] AAA CAS Decision, Arbitral Award AAA No. 30 190 00658 04, 2004-12-10 [6] Canadian Press, “Doping days behind her, sprinter Michelle Collins…” 2007-05-20 [7] The New York Times, “German Expert Warns BALCO Investigators,” 2004-06-26 [8] The New York Times, “German Expert Warns BALCO Investigators,” 2004-06-26