Report: Biogenesis whistle-blower claims clinic's client list included NBA players
Porter Fischer claims athletes from a variety of sports were clients of the former Biogenesis of Miami clinic. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The whistle blower who fed the Miami New Times boxes of documents that revealed the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drugs scandal told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that the shuttered clinic's client list included NBA players as well as NCAA players, professional boxers, tennis players and MMA fighters.
Porter Fischer began as a weight reduction patient of founder Tony Bosch at the Biogenesis of Miami clinic before becoming an investor and marketing director. When Bosch failed to repay a loan, he took some of the Biogenesis documents in his possession to the New Times.
From ESPN.com:
His intention, he said, was to spark a federal investigation. After seeing the names of local police, attorneys and a judge in the documents, Fischer said he wasn't comfortable going to law enforcement.
"I was really, really counting on somebody from law enforcement to come up and take me under their wing and have me as a witness in a criminal investigation, but that never happened," he said.
Fischer said he never asked the New Times for money and never went to any of the leagues for money.
As a result of the New Times story, Major League Baseball launched an investigation into its players tied to the Biogenesis documents. Bosch's cooperation with MLB's probe has led to the suspension of former Most Valuable Player Ryan Braun and reports that New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez is next to face suspension.
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From ESPN.com:
Fischer said he and associates have identified athletes from the NBA, NCAA, professional boxing, tennis and MMA, in addition to other professional baseball players who have not yet been identified. As far as he knows, Fischer said, Bosch had no clients from the NFL or NHL.
He said the only sports entity he has heard from was Major League Baseball.
Fischer said Bosch has been distributing PEDs for years and that the number of athletes who were clients of the clinic -- based on what he saw and heard -- went far beyond what most people realize.
From ESPN.com:
"This isn't a 2013 thing or a 2012 thing; some of these people have been on the books since 2009," Fischer said.
"In just the four years that I know, it's got to be well over a hundred, easy," he said. "It's almost scary to think about how many people have gone through [Bosch's treatments] and how long he's gotten away with this."
Fischer said he has feared for his safety and turned down an offer of $125,000 from Major League Baseball to turn over his Biogenesis documents. He said evidence was stolen from his car shortly after rejecting the MLB offer.
From ESPN.com:
"Once I turned them down for the $125,000, two days later they wrote me a letter instructing me not to destroy any documents and to keep them around,'' he said. "Then two days after that on the 24th of March, I was transporting evidence back to the state investigator for him to follow up on some criminal activity, and my car was broken into and four boxes of evidence were taken.
"I'm still amenable to working with them,'' he added. "Because of this, now my employment opportunities are limited. I feel that I have something good to say. Just like anything else, I feel like my cooperation and compensation should go hand in hand or at least be evaluated.''
