According to T.J. Quinn of ESPN, Tony Bosch, the founder and program director of Biogenesis of America, has surrendered to the Drug Enforcement Administration this morning due to his role in distributing illegal substances/drugs through his clinic.
The DEA also arrested a number of others who were tied to Biogenesis of America at about 6 a.m. Tuesday morning and brought them to the DEA regional office on the outskirts of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This time, the federal investigation will not focus on Bosch and his company's role with Major League baseball; it will primarily involve illegal activity involving other associates, including the distribution of illegal substances (steroids, human growth hormone, and others) to kid athletes.
Tony Bosch being taken into custody at DEA office in Weston, Fl. pic.twitter.com/Tw63FKunpd
— T.J. Quinn (@TJQuinnESPN) August 5, 2014
Federal sources said Bosch agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids between October 2008 and December 2012, and sources say the MLB will contact the DEA and talk with them about easing the charges on Bosch because of his cooperation in last year's investigation that found Ryan Braun (suspended for the remaining 65 games of 2013) and Alex Rodriguez (suspended for the entire 2014 season) guilty of performance enhancing drug (PED) use.
The whole situation is bizarre. Bosch is the founder of Biogenesis, which consequently was responsible for the largest performance enhancing drug scandal in American sports history, and because last year he provided the MLB with pertinent information about players and their involvement with PEDS (that he was a conduit for), he might get a lesser punishment because he snitched out players he sought out to strengthen his business. The MLB has suspended 20 players to date who were connected to Bosch's clinic, after paying the Biogenesis founder $150,000 for clinic documents on the players.
ESPN's Outside the Lines enumerated focus of the current federal investigation on Biogenesis after sources provided them with the information. Investigators sought to determine "whether Bosch acted in the role of a physician (he is not licensed as one); how the clinic obtained and administered human growth hormone, steroids, and other drugs, as well as the source; and whether teenagers were provided performance-enhancing drugs," according to this ESPN article.
More information regarding Tony Bosch and the federal investigation will likely be released later today or in the very near future. For now, take a look at the timeline of events in the Biogenesis case that led up to this point.
