Jeff Novitzky
Encyclopedia
Jeff Novitzky is an agent for the Food and Drug Administration
investigating the use of steroids in professional sports. Before April 2008 he was a special agent
for the Internal Revenue Service
who investigated the use of steroids for over five years. His investigations have concerned Marion Jones
, Barry Bonds
, Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
, Kirk Radomski
, Floyd Landis
and Lance Armstrong
.
On May 20, 2010, The New York Daily News
reported that Novitzky was involved in an investigation into performance enhancing drug use on Lance Armstrong's Tour de France
teams, and that Armstrong's former teammate Floyd Landis was cooperating with the investigation. Previously, Marion Jones
, a track and field Olympian winner, pleaded guilty in October 2007 to making false statements to Novitzky. Novitzky was also able to convince Kirk Radomski, a former New York Mets
club house worker, to become a government informer. Radomski has now been convicted of distributing anabolic steroids to over a dozen Major League Baseball
players.
Novitzky was also a major source of information in the Mitchell Report
about doping in Major League Baseball
.
prosecutions, was by far the longest handed out to any person involved with the cases.
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
investigating the use of steroids in professional sports. Before April 2008 he was a special agent
Special agent
Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....
for the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
who investigated the use of steroids for over five years. His investigations have concerned Marion Jones
Marion Jones
Marion Lois Jones , also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is a former world champion track and field athlete, and a former professional basketball player for Tulsa Shock in the WNBA...
, Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...
, Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative was an American company led by founder and owner Victor Conte, a former bass player for the soul band Tower of Power. In 2003, journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada investigated the company's role in a drug sports scandal later referred to as the...
, Kirk Radomski
Kirk Radomski
Kirk J. Radomski is a former batboy and clubhouse employee for the New York Mets Major League Baseball team from 1985–1995, who on April 27, 2007 pleaded guilty in United States district court to money laundering and illegal distribution of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, Clenbuterol,...
, Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis is an American retired cyclist who after initially being awarded victory in the 2006 Tour de France was stripped of his title for a doping offense. He was an all-around rider, with special skills in climbing and time-trialing, and is also known to be a very fast descender.Landis...
and Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
.
On May 20, 2010, The New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
reported that Novitzky was involved in an investigation into performance enhancing drug use on Lance Armstrong's Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
teams, and that Armstrong's former teammate Floyd Landis was cooperating with the investigation. Previously, Marion Jones
Marion Jones
Marion Lois Jones , also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is a former world champion track and field athlete, and a former professional basketball player for Tulsa Shock in the WNBA...
, a track and field Olympian winner, pleaded guilty in October 2007 to making false statements to Novitzky. Novitzky was also able to convince Kirk Radomski, a former New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
club house worker, to become a government informer. Radomski has now been convicted of distributing anabolic steroids to over a dozen Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
players.
Novitzky was also a major source of information in the Mitchell Report
Mitchell Report (baseball)
The Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball, informally known as the "Mitchell Report", is the result of former Democratic United States Senator from Maine...
about doping in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
.
Criticism
Novitzky has been, at times, criticized by certain defendants in steroid-related cases who perceive that he is biased and unfair. The defendants claim that he has a vendetta against Bonds. Michael Rains, a lawyer for Barry Bonds, asserts that Novitzky lied in the court documents used to obtain much of the evidence gathered against Bonds. In September 2009, Elliot Peters, an attorney representing the Major League Baseball Players' Association, blamed Novitsky for the illegal collection of results from baseball's 2003 drug tests: "“I have a hard time not believing that once Novitzky put together the list, people in the government weren’t chatting about who was on the list... Just about any federal judge would give a criminal defendant much more time for violating a court’s sealing order than they would for someone using a steroid.” The jail sentence given to Troy Ellerman, a lawyer who leaked information during the BALCOBalco
Balco can refer to:* the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative - a controversial sports medicine/nutrition centre in Burlingame, California.* Balco balcony systems who develops, designs and manufactures balcony systems and glazing solutions....
prosecutions, was by far the longest handed out to any person involved with the cases.