SAN JOSE, Calif. – Federal agents raided the San Mateo home of BALCO Laboratories founder Victor Conte Jr. on Wednesday, seizing his computer and other items that authorities believe might show he illegally leaked the grand jury testimony of Barry Bonds and others to reporters.
The raid comes a week after Conte met with officials from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in hopes of laying the groundwork for a possible plea agreement with the government.
Federal prosecutors declined to comment about the search or a possible plea deal. It was unclear what impact the raid might have on any effort by Conte to forge a deal that would avert a trial.
The raid adds to the problems for Conte, who is under federal indictment for distributing steroids to elite athletes, something he admitted on national television last month. If federal prosecutors find evidence he leaked grand jury testimony, which was heard in secret and then sealed, he could face further charges.
Conte, 53, also is the subject of a $25 million defamation suit by track superstar Marion Jones.
While the anti-doping agency wants Conte to help it prosecute cases involving athletes who worked with BALCO, it cannot arrange a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Conte could, however, gain some currency with prosecutors by helping the drug testers without asking for anything in return.
At the meetings last week, an anti-doping agency official pumped Conte for information about some of the athletes he worked with and the substances he gave them.
“Victor’s committed to doing the right thing,” said a source familiar with the meetings.
The anti-doping agency has three BALCO-related cases before the Court of Arbitration for Sport; they involve sprinters Tim Montgomery, Chryste Gaines and Michelle Collins.
Travis Tygart, the agency’s director of legal affairs, declined to comment about the agency’s latest efforts to garner Conte’s help.
About 15 agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation spent four hours searching Conte’s home Wednesday morning. They seized a computer, cellular phone and records, said a source familiar with the raid, which the FBI confirmed took place. Conte’s house was raided once before, on Sept.3, 2003, as part of the Internal Revenue Service’s original investigation into BALCO.
The agents were searching for documents and e-mails involving a number of athletes, including Bonds, the New York Yankees’ Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, and track stars Jones, Montgomery and Kelli White, the source said.
They also looked for material mentioning track coaches Trevor Graham of Raleigh, N.C., and John Smith of Los Angeles.
In addition, the agents were looking for documents showing Conte’s communications with the Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle, ESPN.com and the Reuters news agency, according to the source.
Conte has been a prime suspect in the leaks for months.
Conte’s lawyers have denied their client leaked the transcripts. Lawyers on both sides have decried the illegal leaks as damaging to their cases.
Judge Susan Illston last month ordered federal prosecutors to investigate the leaks, and the case was referred to the Department of Justice. The defense presented no evidence showing the government was the source of the leaks, the judge ruled in denying a defense motion for dismissal last month.
Conte’s lawyer, Robert Holley, declined to comment about the raid “subject to getting more information in connection to the search.”
Holley said a Jan.31 evidentiary hearing about the legality of the Sept.3, 2003, raid on BALCO has been postponed until March 16. The defense says the raid, led by the IRS, was illegal and that evidence collected from BALCO should be suppressed.
Three other men besides Conte are charged in the case: BALCO vice president James Valente; Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds’ personal trainer; and Remi Korchemny, a East Bay track coach.
This is not the first time federal agents have sought information regarding media leaks in the case, which has become the biggest drug scandal in sports history.
On Aug.25, 2004, two Mercury News reporters received letters and telephone calls from the U.S. Attorney’s office asking them to reveal who gave them information involving a federal interview with C.J. Hunter, the former husband of Jones. The letter also asked the reporters to hand over any documents pertaining to the BALCO case.
Chronicle reporters covering the BALCO investigation reportedly received a similar request. Both newspapers refused to comply.
Conte’s computer hard drive probably will be brought to the Silicon Valley Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory in Menlo Park. Forensic examiners at the lab use a collection of high-tech tools to crack into hard drives, e-mails and cell phone databases.
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Victor Conte
AP-NY-01-26-05 2320EST
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