Anthony Bosch, the former Alex Rodriguez associate who founded Biogenesis, surrendered to the DEA on Tuesday after making a deal to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids between October 2008 and December 2012.
Bosch, 50, was arrested along with several associates, who were gathered from their homes, handcuffed, and driven by federal agents to the DEA regional office near Fort Lauderdale. Bosch drove to the DEA office with his attorney. Special agent in charge Mark R. Trouville said ten people, including Yuri Sucart, the cousin of Alex Rodriguez, were arrested Tuesday as a result of a two-year Operation Strikeout investigation.
A news conference was scheduled on Tuesday by the the U.S. Attorney’s office in Miami.
The ESPN show “Outside the Lines” claimed that sources asserted that MLB players and other pro athletes are not being targeted by the investigation. The targets are Bosch and his associates.
Almost twenty MLB players connected to Bosch have been suspended for testing positive for banned substances, including Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, Nelson Cruz, Bartolo Colon, and Melky Cabrera.
The MLB investigation into the juicing scandal was costly; one misguided attempt paid an ex-convict $150,000 for clinic documents which turned out to be stolen. Because of the ineptitude, baseball’s department of investigations was recently reorganized.
The perusal by “Outside the Lines” of the documents associated with the case indicated that at least 25 players were involved, although sources told the show that the number could be higher than that. Apparently Bosch also dealt with players in other sports, as well as entertainers and businessmen, prescribing regimens of growth hormone and testosterone even though he is not a doctor.
Bosch had acted as the lead witness in the case against Rodriguez with the proviso that MLB would drop a civil lawsuit against him. He agreed to do so in June 2013, two months before a federal grand jury started its case against his clinic prompted by the DEA investigation. MLB promised Bosch that if he cooperated, MLB would help him with any criminal charges.
Last year, the Florida Department of Health wrote Bosch a cease-and-desist letter and fined him $5,000, later reduced to $3,000.
Porter Fischer, who once served as the marketing director of Biogenesis, gave clinic documents to the grand jury.
“Outside the Lines” learned that the federal investigation focused on whether Bosch acted as a doctor, how Bosch’s clinic procured and distributed human growth hormone, steroids, and other drugs, and whether or not teenagers were given PEDs.
According to clinic records, at least 15 high school or college athletes obtained PEDs from Bosch’s clinic. Last October, “Outside the Lines” spoke with a former clinic employee who said he had informed South Florida-based DEA agents that teenagers were given PEDs.
“Outside the Lines” heard from friends and former associates of Bosch’s who said either Bosch told them he was a doctor or they were led to believe he was. On state corporate filings for Medical HRT (hormone-replacement therapy), a business that failed, Bosch is listed as “Dr. Bosch.”
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