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Report: Feds investigating if Bonds committed perjury
Baseball isn't the only organization investigating Barry Bonds.
CNN reported Thursday that the federal government is investigating whether Bonds committed perjury when he testified during his grand jury testimony in the BALCO case in 2003.
Multiple sources told CNN that a federal grand jury has been hearing evidence for more than a month about whether Bonds perjured himself during his Dec. 4, 2003, testimony. The U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco would neither confirm nor deny to CNN that a grand jury is sitting, and Bonds' lawyers told CNN that they were unaware a grand jury is convened.
The Giants declined to comment on the CNN report to ESPN's Colleen Dominguez on Thursday night. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig also had no comment.
A number of professional athletes were given immunity from prosecution in exchange for their truthful testimony. They were also told that if it was later discovered they had lied, they would be prosecuted.
Bonds, who testified before a San Francisco federal grand jury looking into steroid use by top athletes, has repeatedly denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.
Two books being released this spring accuse the Giants slugger of using steroids, human growth hormone and insulin for at least five seasons beginning in 1998 -- "Game of Shadows," written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters, and "Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero" by Jeff Pearlman. Baseball did not test for performance-enhancing substances until after the 2002 season.
BALCO founder Victor Conte insisted in March that he never gave performance-enhancing drugs to Bonds and that "Game of Shadows" is "full of outright lies."
Conte spoke to The Associated Press outside his San Mateo home hours after his release from prison, where he spent four months after pleading guilty to orchestrating an illegal steroids distribution scheme that allegedly involved many high-profile athletes, including Bonds.
Asked whether he gave Bonds performance-enhancing drugs, Conte said: "No, I did not."
"Game of Shadows" chronicles the founding of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and details alleged extensive steroid use by Bonds and other baseball stars. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced in March that former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will lead an investigation into the claims.
"I plan to provide evidence in the near future to prove that much of what is written in the book is untrue," Conte told the AP. He declined to list specific inaccuracies or what evidence he would provide but said the book is "about the character assassination of Barry Bonds and myself."
"It's my opinion that the two writers of the book have a disease called fabrication-itis," Conte said, holding a copy of "Game of Shadows" as he stood on his front steps.
Conte founded and managed the Burlingame-based BALCO, where the steroids were sold. He pleaded guilty to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge, and dozens of other charges were dropped as part of his plea deal.
Conte was sentenced in October to four months in prison and four months' home confinement in a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Baseball investigators could seek to interview Conte about steroid use in the game.
Bonds, who has denied using steroids, was the most prominent athlete linked to BALCO. He testified in December 2003 to the federal grand jury investigating the case but has not been charged with a crime.
Other baseball players linked to BALCO include New York Yankees stars Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield.
Olympic track and field stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery and former NFL player Bill Romanowski were also called to testify in front of the grand jury. No athletes were charged in the scheme.
Greg Anderson, Bonds' personal trainer, was sentenced to three months behind bars and an additional three months of home confinement after pleading guilty to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge.
BALCO vice president James Valente was sentenced to three years' probation, and track coach Remi Korchemny received a year of probation.
Meanwhile, baseball star Rafael Palmeiro will not be prosecuted on perjury charges after lawmakers said there isn't enough evidence to prove he lied when he told Congress under oath that he had "never used steroids" -- six weeks before failing a steroid test.
The investigation did not conclude whether the former Baltimore Orioles slugger had actually ever used performance-enhancing substances prior to his testimony before the House Government Reform Committee.
"We couldn't find any evidence of steroid use prior to his testimony," Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., said in releasing a 44-page report. "That's not a finding of innocence, but it's a finding that we could not substantiate perjury."
At issue was Palmeiro's statement at a March 17 hearing: "I have never used steroids. Period." On May 4, he failed a Major League Baseball drug test, coming up positive for an anabolic steroid. In August, shortly after baseball suspended Palmeiro for 10 days, Davis said Congress would look into whether the player committed perjury.
"We have a responsibility, an obligation, to investigate it, and that's what we've done," Davis said during a news conference in the same hearing room where Palmeiro had testified.
Davis said the steroid for which Palmeiro tested positive is detectable for three to four weeks, shorter than the gap between his failed test and Capitol Hill appearance, and therefore "could not have been in his system the day he testified."
"We were not concerned with why he tested positive or how he tested positive except for how that related to his testimony," Davis added.
Source: AP
CNN reported Thursday that the federal government is investigating whether Bonds committed perjury when he testified during his grand jury testimony in the BALCO case in 2003.
Multiple sources told CNN that a federal grand jury has been hearing evidence for more than a month about whether Bonds perjured himself during his Dec. 4, 2003, testimony. The U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco would neither confirm nor deny to CNN that a grand jury is sitting, and Bonds' lawyers told CNN that they were unaware a grand jury is convened.
The Giants declined to comment on the CNN report to ESPN's Colleen Dominguez on Thursday night. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig also had no comment.
A number of professional athletes were given immunity from prosecution in exchange for their truthful testimony. They were also told that if it was later discovered they had lied, they would be prosecuted.
Bonds, who testified before a San Francisco federal grand jury looking into steroid use by top athletes, has repeatedly denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.
Two books being released this spring accuse the Giants slugger of using steroids, human growth hormone and insulin for at least five seasons beginning in 1998 -- "Game of Shadows," written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters, and "Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero" by Jeff Pearlman. Baseball did not test for performance-enhancing substances until after the 2002 season.
BALCO founder Victor Conte insisted in March that he never gave performance-enhancing drugs to Bonds and that "Game of Shadows" is "full of outright lies."
Conte spoke to The Associated Press outside his San Mateo home hours after his release from prison, where he spent four months after pleading guilty to orchestrating an illegal steroids distribution scheme that allegedly involved many high-profile athletes, including Bonds.
Asked whether he gave Bonds performance-enhancing drugs, Conte said: "No, I did not."
"Game of Shadows" chronicles the founding of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and details alleged extensive steroid use by Bonds and other baseball stars. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced in March that former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will lead an investigation into the claims.
"I plan to provide evidence in the near future to prove that much of what is written in the book is untrue," Conte told the AP. He declined to list specific inaccuracies or what evidence he would provide but said the book is "about the character assassination of Barry Bonds and myself."
"It's my opinion that the two writers of the book have a disease called fabrication-itis," Conte said, holding a copy of "Game of Shadows" as he stood on his front steps.
Conte founded and managed the Burlingame-based BALCO, where the steroids were sold. He pleaded guilty to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge, and dozens of other charges were dropped as part of his plea deal.
Conte was sentenced in October to four months in prison and four months' home confinement in a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Baseball investigators could seek to interview Conte about steroid use in the game.
Bonds, who has denied using steroids, was the most prominent athlete linked to BALCO. He testified in December 2003 to the federal grand jury investigating the case but has not been charged with a crime.
Other baseball players linked to BALCO include New York Yankees stars Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield.
Olympic track and field stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery and former NFL player Bill Romanowski were also called to testify in front of the grand jury. No athletes were charged in the scheme.
Greg Anderson, Bonds' personal trainer, was sentenced to three months behind bars and an additional three months of home confinement after pleading guilty to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge.
BALCO vice president James Valente was sentenced to three years' probation, and track coach Remi Korchemny received a year of probation.
Meanwhile, baseball star Rafael Palmeiro will not be prosecuted on perjury charges after lawmakers said there isn't enough evidence to prove he lied when he told Congress under oath that he had "never used steroids" -- six weeks before failing a steroid test.
The investigation did not conclude whether the former Baltimore Orioles slugger had actually ever used performance-enhancing substances prior to his testimony before the House Government Reform Committee.
"We couldn't find any evidence of steroid use prior to his testimony," Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., said in releasing a 44-page report. "That's not a finding of innocence, but it's a finding that we could not substantiate perjury."
At issue was Palmeiro's statement at a March 17 hearing: "I have never used steroids. Period." On May 4, he failed a Major League Baseball drug test, coming up positive for an anabolic steroid. In August, shortly after baseball suspended Palmeiro for 10 days, Davis said Congress would look into whether the player committed perjury.
"We have a responsibility, an obligation, to investigate it, and that's what we've done," Davis said during a news conference in the same hearing room where Palmeiro had testified.
Davis said the steroid for which Palmeiro tested positive is detectable for three to four weeks, shorter than the gap between his failed test and Capitol Hill appearance, and therefore "could not have been in his system the day he testified."
"We were not concerned with why he tested positive or how he tested positive except for how that related to his testimony," Davis added.
Source: AP
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