Federal prosecutors on Wednesday indicted a man accused of providing doping products to at least two athletes before the Olympics. A first in the context of the controversial Rodchenkov law, which allows the United States to prosecute outside its borders anyone involved in a doping case.
Eric Lira has long proclaimed himself a therapist “Kinesiologist and naturopath”. On Wednesday, the 41-year-old from El Paso, Texas, was arrested and subsequently charged with violating a new US anti-doping law governing international sports competitions. He is accused of having supplied several banned substances – growth hormone and erythropoietin, better known as EPO – to two athletes as part of a doping program during their preparation for the Tokyo Games.
The athletes concerned are not named but the indictment clearly identifies one of the two. In this case the Nigerian athlete Blessing Okagbare, long jump silver medalist in 2008 in Beijing. Converted into the sprint, she was forced to leave the track in the semi-finals during the Olympics in Japan, suspended provisionally after having tested positive for growth hormone.
Code name: “Honey”
The investigation began in July. Or a few days before the start of the Olympics, postponed because of the pandemic. A person called “Individual-1” comes across packages of performance enhancing products, including growth hormone, in an athlete’s home in Florida. This same person then sends photos of the products in question to the FBI.
The packages contain Mexican products with Eric Lira’s shipping address, the recipient being an Olympic athlete named “Athlete-1” in the indictment. In the days leading up to the Games, that same athlete tested positive for human growth hormone. This was the case with Blessing Okagbare.
The Nigerian was preparing to return to the United States when US border police, accompanied by an FBI agent, requisition her phone. Inside the cell phone, telephone calls during which the agents understand that Okagbare would have arranged for Lira to supply her and a second athlete, male (“Athlete-2”), with the products in question. . Growth hormone was notably referred to under the codename of “honey”.
“You do your part of the job, soon you will be ready to dominate”
“Hey Eric, I just sent you $ 2,500 [2 200 euros, ndlr], can you confirm it via Zelle [un réseau de paiement numérique américain] ?» can we read on one of the messages sent by Okagbare. “And also, remember I told you that (Athlete-2) had a hamstring injury, so anything that will help the hamstrings heal really fast, you can bring that too, okay?” ” The 32-year-old sprinter appeared pleased with the results, writing to Lira: “Hola amigo. Eric my body feels so good. I just ran 10.63 [secondes] over 100 m on Friday with a wind of 2.7 [mètres par seconde]. I am so happy. Ericccccccc, whatever you have done, it works so well. “
“What you have done will help you for the competitions to come”, Lira responds to Okagbare on July 19, while training in Slovakia, just before taking off for Tokyo. “You’re doing your part of the job, soon you’ll be ready to dominate.” That day, she tested positive for growth hormone after a blood drive. “Call me urgently, send Okagbare to Lira. [Les contrôleurs] said one of my results was positive for hGH [hormone de croissance humaine]… I do not understand.”
In the indictment, Okagbare describes Lira as “doctor”. However, the FBI has discovered in the meantime that the man was not authorized to practice medicine in any of the states where he allegedly operated. Neither in Texas, where his company Med Sport LLC is based, according to his LinkedIn profile, nor in the Mexican twin city of Ciudad Juárez, just across the border. In 2021, Lira’s company would also have received $ 23,800 as part of the “Paycheck Protection Program”, business loans introduced in 2020, according to the independent investigative media. ProPublica.
Premiere for the Rodchenkov Act
This case has a particular impact internationally since, as the prosecutors in charge of the case mention, Lira is the first person charged under the Rodchenkov anti-doping law. Promulgated in 2020, it owes its name to the former director of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, whistleblower at the origin of the state scandal in Russia, which resulted in the country not being able to compete under its own name in Tokyo. Nor, moreover, during the Beijing Winter Games, which open in three weeks.
The Rodchenkov law gives American justice the right to prosecute outside its borders any person implicated in a doping case, whatever their nationality, as long as it harms the interests of American athletes. It makes it possible to impose prison sentences of up to ten years and fines of up to $ 1 million on all those involved. The law had been criticized by many international actors, including the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), fearing that it would encourage other countries to create their own extraterritorial jurisdiction for political reasons.
Travis Tygart, head of the American Anti-Doping Agency (Usada), consulted during the investigation, did not fail to implicitly tackle WADA when asked for his opinion: the Lira case is a “Wonderful example of the power of whistleblowers who present themselves to trusted anti-doping agencies and law enforcement agencies to ensure the protection of the Olympic Games”, he congratulates himself.
After his suspension during the Games, Okagbare was subsequently the subject of two charges by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) in October. One following a positive control for EPO which occurred earlier in the season, the other for his refusal to cooperate. She is still provisionally suspended by the IAU, in charge of the investigation, while waiting for her case to be brought before the disciplinary tribunal. “We welcome the prosecution of anyone providing doping products to athletes, applauds IAU Director Brett Clothier. Collaboration between judicial authorities and anti-doping agencies can significantly enhance the ability to detect significant doping cases. ”
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