Doping in Sports and Financial Statement Fraud

I just read an interesting article titled: "Instead of punishing dirty cyclists, should we reward the clean?" The idea is to certify pro cyclists who are willing to be thoroughly tested for doping. The tests would go beyond what is currently used to look for drugs and involve many mechanisms to detect doping.

WADA Says Lance is not in Charge!

Just when Lance Armstrong probably was hoping he could show he is cooperating with USADA and WADA to get them to cut him some slack, WADA let's him know that he isn't in charge! Check it out at SportsIllustrated.com. Here is the heart of it:

Will Lance's Confession be Anticlimactic?

I've been thinking that saying Lance's confession will be anticlimactic will be a major understatement. I had decided that I won't even try to watch it come out live because it seems like a waste of time. However, yesterday, the NY Times published an article suggesting that Lance Armstrong's confession may be interesting in that it could involve testifying against many top-level officials in cycling such as Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid of the UCI and Lance's former partner at Tailwind Sports, Thom Weisel. Here are some key excerpts from the Times article:

Lance May Admit He Doped

If this report is accurate, I will have to eat my words. I never thought Lance Armstrong would be able to do a complete 180 and admit to doping.  I even predicted he would go to his grave denying. However, according to the NY Times, he is considering confessing. Why would he do this now you ask? Here is what a Sports Illustrated blog has to say...

Contador Ruling: Stripped of Tour de France Title

VeloNation is reporting that the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) has ruled on Alberto Contador and, to my surprise, they found that his doping violation will hold. What this means is that he is stripped of one of his Tour de France titles, a Giro d' Italia title and several wins in other races. Contador was given the full two-year ban. It appears that justice is sometimes served in pro-cycling!

Contador Investigation: Expect Alberto to be found Innocent

VeloNews is reporting that WADA lawyers have threatened to walk out of the Alberto Contador hearing which is supposed to rule this week whether the Spaniard will be found to have violated doping rules. Contador has a lot riding on this ruling (no pun intended) since the rule states that any clenbuterol found in his system is a violation that will cause him to lose his Tour de France title and ban him for up to two years. As we've covered on Fraudbytes previously, Contador claims he got the steroid from eating tainted beef during the tour.

The VeloNews article is short and highlights several claims by an anonymous source that Contador has biased the arbitration process in his favor. If you're interested in why WADA is so frustrated by this hearing, I'd recommend reading the article.

Doping in Cycling and the Mafia

The head of the World Anti Doping Association (WADA), David Howman, gave an interview in New York City that gives some insights into the difficulty of battling doping in cycling and other sports. Here are some of the meatier quotes from an article on CyclingNews, along with my comments:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: 60 Minutes Responds

Yesterday's news was that Lance Armstrong's legal team was asking for an apology from 60 Minutes. I mentioned that I wasn't going to hold my breath waiting for 60 Minutes to tell Lance they are sorry. News reports are now publishing the response from the program. Here is what is being reported that they said:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Odds and Ends

In today's news, various sources are reporting that Lance's lawyers are demanding an on-air apology from 60 Minutes. I personally am not holding my breath...

Well, aside from that news, I have had questions about the Lance Armstrong investigation asked to me from some friends and thought I'd document my thoughts to these questions. Some of you may have had similar questions or may hear similar questions as the public starts hearing more about the investigation. For example, a friend in my neighborhood asked me "How could he be guilty when he was tested so many times?" My response...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: What I Learned from 60 Minutes

I watched three 60 Minutes videos about the Lance Armstrong investigation, including a segment on 60 Minutes Overtime. In these videos, Tyler Hamilton states that the claims he made on 60 Minutes are what he told the Grand Jury that is investigating Lance Armstrong for his use of performance enhancing drugs while racing on the U.S. Postal Team. Here are a few claims made by Tyler and other takeaways from the videos:

Contador Investigation: UCI Says "Not So Fast Alberto..."

The UCI announce today that they will put their foot down in the Alberto Contador-clenbuterol case and has appealed his decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. As you know, this case first came to light last Fall after it was announced that Alberto failed some tests during last year's Tour de France which showed that he had trace amounts of clenbuterol in his system during the tour. Interestingly, the clenbuterol just showed up one day in very small amounts.

As I have blogged earlier, soon after we learned Alberto had clenbuterol in his system it was also revealed that Alberto also had plasticizers in his system. A new, unapproved, test for plasticizers was used to see if Alberto had been blood doping and it appeared he was. However, the test was not yet an approved part of the regulators' arsenal of tools that they could use to find a cheater. Even so, the word was that the plasticizer test could be used to shed light on another test, as it appeared to in this case. The plasticizer theory goes like this:

Contador Case Moves to Spain

It was reported today that the UCI turned Contador's case over to the Spanish federation to determine what, if any, penalty the Spaniard should face. Time will tell what this means for Contador. I doubt he will get the maximum two-year suspension so if he gets one year they will back date it to July and he could be racing next August. Some people are speculating that if the Spanish federation is too easy on Alberto then WADA could get involved.

Does anyone of you know what the potential outcomes of this case are? Could the Spanish federation decide Alberto ate a bad steak and tell him to be more careful where he buys his steak next time? Maybe give him a six month ban starting last July?

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Praise from Abroad

Jeffrey Novitzky's investigation into Lance Armstrong's alleged doping while racing for U.S. Postal is getting some praise from around the globe. A recent article said the following: