Barry Bonds Indicted on Perjury & Obstruction of Justice Charges
November 15, 2007 - 5:34pm.
Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
The five-count indictment includes four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice. This case marks one of the longest federal grand jury investigations in Northern California history. The case has introduced the world to the acroynm BALCO, which stands for Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, which led to the downfall of several American professional athletes, including Olympic champions Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, and Kelli White. Several current and former NFL players were called to testify in the case, and the put the spotlight on Major League Baseball and their problems with performance-enhancing drugs once again.
The charges for which Bonds was indicted today stem from his December 4, 2003 testimony where he allegedly testified that he did not knowingly take any performance enhancing drugs.
Barry Bonds trainer, Greg Anderson, was convicted in the BALCO case on grand jury charges, and served time in jail. He returned to prison when he refused to testify against bonds, and remains in jail to this day.
Despite Anderson's refusal to testify, others have reportedly testified to the grand jury that Bonds admitted having used steroids produced by BALCO. Amongst those rumored to have testified against Bonds are former mistress Kimberly Bell and a childhood friend, Stevie Hoskins.
The tax charges that Bonds face stem from cash Bonds allegedly collected from memorabilia shows and did not report to the IRS.
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