The first person charged with violating a 2020 law banning conspiracy to corrupt international sporting events using performance-enhancing drugs has been sentenced to three months in prison.
Federal prosecutors are using the Rodchenkov anti-doping law to use Texas-based therapist Eric Lira to drug two Nigerian athletes who were regulars on NCAA, Olympic and world championship podiums with human growth hormone and other drugs. He was charged with supplying performance-enhancing drugs.
Lira pleaded guilty in May.
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U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said the message the prison sentence sends is “especially important this year, with the Paris Summer Olympics on the horizon. Those who seek to provide performance-enhancing drugs to Olympic athletes must realize the seriousness of their actions. It is essential to understand.”
The Olympic rings at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters. (Laurent Guillieln/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Regulators from the World Anti-Doping Agency campaigned against key parts of the Rodchenkov Act, which passed both houses of Congress without opposition before then-President Donald Trump signed it.
Two of the athletes Lira dealt with, Blessing Okagbare and Divine Oduduru, received multi-year suspensions. Meanwhile, prosecutors are expanding their investigation with the aim of indicting coaches who collaborated with Lira in preparation for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency argued that the ruling was a landmark decision that would put a brake on anti-doping rules.
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“Continued cooperation with anti-doping organizations, law enforcement, and other federal agencies will ensure that those who conspire against clean athletes and fair sports do not. It will continue to have a significant impact.”
