The owner of a now-defunct Florida clinic was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to distribute steroids, more than a year after he was accused of providing performance-enhancing drugs to Yankees star Alex Rodriguez and other players.
Federal court records show Anthony Bosch is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute testosterone. The documents do not specify whether the charges are directly related to the Major League Baseball scandal.
Court documents say that from October 2008 through December 2012, Bosch willfully conspired to distribute the anabolic steroid testosterone.
Bosch surrendered Tuesday morning, and eight other people also have been arrested, said Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Mia Ro.
A Miami New Times report from January 2013, which sparked MLB's investigation, said Rodriguez had bought human growth hormone and other substances from 2009 to 2012 from Bosch's clinic, Biogenesis of America. The newspaper said it had obtained records detailing the purchases by Rodriguez and other ballplayers.
Fourteen players associated with the Coral Gables clinic were disciplined last year by MLB, including a season-long 2014 suspension imposed on Rodriguez.
MLB had sued Bosch and his clinic but withdrew the lawsuit in February. The lawsuit had accused them of conspiring with players to violate their contracts by providing them with banned substances.
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Although the lawsuit sought unspecified damages, it also provided a way for MLB to subpoena clinic records.
Rodriguez, who denied using banned substances while playing for the Yankees, initially fought the suspension. He finally ended his fight with MLB in February, accepting the suspension and withdrawing a pair of lawsuits against the MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association.
Rodriguez's suspension is the longest penalty in the sport's history related to performance-enhancing drugs. He was the only player involved in the scandal to contest his penalty.
