US launches investigation into doping claims

Associated Press

NEW YORK

U.S. prosecutors are investigating claims that dozens of top Russian athletes participated in a sophisticated state-sponsored doping program, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Two unidentified sources confirmed the investigation to the Times, requesting anonymity because they did not have authorization to speak publicly.

The probe, launched by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, is looking at athletes, Russian government officials, anti-doping authorities and people who may have benefited from the doping scheme, the Times reported.

A law-enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation confirmed to The Associated Press there is an FBI inquiry related the Russian doping scandal, but offered no details.

The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The investigators are from same team handling the FIFA probe, which also is being overseen by prosecutors in Brooklyn.

There was no immediate response to messages left with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn.

A World Anti-Doping Agency report last year outlined a state-sponsored doping scheme in Russia. Then, in an interview published last week in the Times, Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian lab now living in Los Angeles, said that he switched tainted urine samples for clean ones at the doping lab used for the Sochi Games, with help from people he believed to be officers of the Russian security services.

“60 Minutes” also aired a report last week with a whistleblower who said he sent 200 emails and 50 letters about Russian doping to WADA, but was told the agency didn’t have the power to investigate inside the country. CBS later reported that the FBI was looking into allegations surrounding Russian doping.