Victor Conte, the founder of Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and one of four men indicted by a U.S. grand jury on charges of illegal steroid distribution, is allegedly suspected of leaking the testimony – a violation of secrecy rules and a court order.
"I did not ever provide the (San Francisco) Chronicle with BALCO grand-jury transcripts, by any means or method," Conte wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
"The facts will eventually come out."
BALCO founder Victor Conte settled a civil lawsuit regarding Medicare fraud.(AP Photo)
Authorities raided Conte's house last Wednesday and seized a computer, cell phone and lab records.
He is also subpoenaed to appear before a panel on Tuesday, at which time he is expected to surrender the contents of a second computer located at BALCO.
Robert Holley, Conte's lawyer, confirmed Monday that his client will not appear because, as Conte wrote, the raid confiscated all of the legal documents exchanged by my attorney and myself since the beginning of the case."
Holley further added that the computer from BALCO contains trial strategies.
BALCO, Conte's nutritional supplements lab, allegedly developed a designer steroid known as tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) which, until last year, defied testing.
THG was unknown to sports watchdogs until the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency received a syringe of it from an anonymous track coach, who claimed it came from BALCO.
Trevor Graham, coach of Olympic 100-metre champion Justin Gatlin, admitted Aug. 24 that he sent the syringe.
A San Francisco grand jury eventually indicted Conte, his vice-president Jim Valente, athletics coach Remi Korchemmy and Greg Anderson, personal trainer to Bonds.
Conte was charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.
He also settled a civil lawsuit filed by the government, regarding Medicare fraud, last fall.
Bonds, baseball's single-season home run king, testified that he used a cream and a clear substance provided by Anderson, not realizing they were steroids.
Bonds' admission later wound up in the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, as did testimony from fellow major-leaguer Jason Giambi and sprinter Tim Montgomery – all former BALCO clients.
with files from CP Online
