Kroger, Gardis & Regas partner, Bill Bock, who serves as General Counsel to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) recently concluded a high profile investigation into anti-doping rule violations engaged in by Alberto Salazar and Dr. Jeffrey Brown, who were affiliated with the well-known distance running group formerly known as the Nike Oregon Project (NOP). Salazar, once regarded as one of the best known running coaches in the world, and Brown, who served for years as a performance consultant to the Nike Oregon Project (NOP), are now suspended from the sport for four years. On September 5, 2019, a AAA arbitration panel found Salazar guilty of trafficking testosterone, tampering with the doping control process and administration of prohibited, over-limit L-carnitine infusions. The arbitration cases against Salazar and Brown were the result of a more than 6 year investigation into the conduct of Salazar and Brown by USADA and a 2 year arbitration process in which Salazar and Brown contested the charges against them and Bock served as USADA’s lead counsel.
USADA’s investigation was aided by whistle blowers who came forward with their personal observations and provided USADA with access to their patient records with Brown and their email communications with Salazar. Fallout from the ban has resulted in the NOP being shuttered in an announcement made by Nike the week after the arbitration decisions.
“The athletes in these cases found the courage to speak out and ultimately exposed the truth,” said USADA Chief Executive Officer Travis T. Tygart. “While acting in connection with the Nike Oregon Project, Mr. Salazar and Dr. Brown demonstrated that winning was more important than the health and well being of the athletes they were sworn to protect.”
More insight is available here: https://www.usada.org/sanction/aaa-panel-4-year-sanctions-alberto-salazar-jeffrey-brown
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/06/sports/salazar-doping-nike-oregon-project.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/sports/nike-oregon-project-salazar.html
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