IFBB Pro Phil Heath stole the show at the 2008 Iron Man Pro in Los Angeles this past weekend. Muscletime covered the event and photographer Raymond Cassar has some of the best pics of the contest available on the Internet, especially his impressive photos of Phil Heath.
Federal authorities have shifted significant resources to investigation of steroid trafficking within the United States and internationally. Given the prevalence of steroid use in professional bodybuilding, many observers felt it was only a matter of time before the federal investigations reached the sport of bodybuilding. When David Jacobs was arrested in May 2007 on steroid distribution charges, there was a great deal of anxiety within the sport; Jacobs had close ties with various professional bodybuilders and national level bodybuilding competitors in the State of Texas. The collective anxiety increased through November 2007 when court records revealed Jacobs had entered a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
Sources close to the investigation have told MESO-Rx that, in spite of Jacobs close ties to the sports, bodybuilders were never the targets of the investigation.
Individuals who have worked with the assistant U.S. attorney Samuel Cantrell in the United States District Court (Eastern District of Texas) paint a picture of a young, fair and open-minded prosecutor who is very good at his job with a 93% conviction rate. We are told Cantrell is primarily concerned with disrupting the supply chain of anabolic steroids to (1) professional athletes who use them to gain an unfair advantage in sports competitions where performance enhancing drugs are explicitly prohibited, and (2) teenagers whose use may adversely affect their health during a critical developmental period.
Independent sources tell us that federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Texas could care less about bodybuilding. Cantrell purportedly does not display a moralistic condemnation of steroid use in bodybuilding; he is of the opinion that anabolic steroid use is an overt part of the sport which has no explicit proscription of the use of performance enhancing drugs by any of its competitors at the novice, amateur or professional levels. It’s obvious that everyone in pro bodybuilding uses them.
Individuals in Cantrell’s office have even expressed admiration at the dedication and determination exhibited by bodybuilders. While they do not see steroid use in bodybuilding as morally “bad”, but make no mistake that they believe the illicit use, sale and distribution is “wrong” simply because it is against the law.
Even in the case of David Jacobs where the defendant had obvious ties to various competitive bodybuilders, a source familiar with his case files informs us that Jacobs was only asked about two pro bodybuilders and only because of the extensive photographic and videographic evidence linking Jacobs to Branch Warren and Art Atwood.
According to one source, Branch Warren was never investigated after Jacobs denied Warren ever had any involvement. Furthermore, federal investigators had no evidence to suggest Warren was ever involved in the distribution of anabolic steroids. Friends of Branch Warren confirm his adamant stand against involvement in steroid distribution.
On the other hand, federal prosecutors had two years of detailed records, including photographs and video surveillance documenting a relationship between David Jacobs and Art Atwood; the same source tells us that Jacobs basically only confirmed the evidence detailing the Jacobs-Atwood relationship.
The damage to the sport of bodybuilding will be limited since bodybuilding is not the apparent target of the Texas steroid investigations.
Real journalists are supposed to rely on verifiable facts when writing news stories. Michael Brick of the New York Times appears to be guilty of sloppy fact-checking in his coverage of the federal steroid investigations down in Texas.
A black Hummer pulled into the Hooters parking lot as dusk fell. Arthur Dale Atwood, a professional bodybuilder with a 61-inch chest, opened the tailgate for a police informant to deliver more than 100 bottles of fake drugs made from vegetable oil.
The story implies that Art Atwood was selling and dealing “fake” steroids. Court documents which provide details of the sting operation indicate that federal investigators gave the police informant fake steroids in place of real steroids as part of the Atwood sting operation. “Fake” steroids are often used in sting operations to establish conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute.
Furthermore, the police informant involved in the federal steroid sting operation was Art Atwood’s best friend; Atwood had no reason to suspect he was being sold fake steroids. His best friend had been acquiring steroids from David Jacobs who was distributing legitimate steroids imported from China according to independent sources.
Prosecutors could have tried Atwood and Jacobs on multiple counts of drug conspiracy, seeking to make an example of two bodybuilders suspected of distributing steroids. But instead, they made deals that could keep both men from serving any prison time.
Art has informed MESO-Rx that he had not entered into a plea agreement with federal investigators and the New York Times assertion of such a deal was categorically false. Atwood has not been charged with a crime and it remains to be seen if charges are filed against him for his involvement.
Atwood and Jacobs were enlisted to cooperate in Operation Raw Deal, the federal government’s most aggressive drive yet to interrupt the importation and traffic of performance-enhancing drugs through nutrition stores, gyms and Web sites. In September, authorities in 10 countries coordinated the arrests of more than 120 people, seized more than $6 million and collected 11 million steroid doses, 3 boats and dozens of weapons.
While the Texas investigation is a complex and interconnected case, Atwood explains that his involvement in the case is different from Jacobs; Atwood does not have the same connections e.g. with NFL football players, nor does he have a plea agreement with prosecutors assuring him that he will avoid jail time. The facts involving Atwood’s case are significantly different and will be judged independently, contrary to suggestions by the New York Times of similarities between the Atwood and Jacobs cases. As he told the local CBS affiliate, “David did his own thing; I was my own entity.”
Through the summer, six other people connected to Atwood and Jacobs were arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute steroids. Most have pleaded guilty to the federal distribution charge. In interviews, investigators and defense lawyers described the six as bodybuilders who were supplied by Atwood and Jacobs and who were familiar with one another partly through competitions and mostly through online sales.
The New York Times implies that six bodybuilders were arrested as the result of Art Atwood’s cooperation with federal investigators. Atwood strongly denies the truth of this allegation; the implication that they were “turning people in left and right” is untrue. Furthermore, none of the six indicted co-conspirators of David Jacobs have accused Atwood as being responsible for their arrests.
While the parties affected by the federal steroid investigation in Texas are restricted by what they can say to the press by legal considerations, the full truth and details of this large scale investigation will become a matter of public record soon - most likely upon sentencing of the parties involved. MESO-Rx tries to provide additional information as it becomes available but the details are incomplete and we should be cautious before we rush to judgment in the absence of all of the facts.
The Los Angeles Police Department discovered former bodybuilding cosmetic surgeon Bruce Nadler, MD and his wife dead as the result of gunshot wounds on Monday, February 4, 2008. Authorities believe it is an apparent murder-suicide perpetrated by Bruce Nadler.
Bruce Nadler called himself the “world’s strongest plastic surgeon.” He was probably the best known cosmetic surgeon catering to amateur and professional bodybuilders. He had performed over 700 gynecomastia surgeries in his career; “gyno” is a side effect of anabolic steroid use when antiaromatase and/or estrogen antagonists are not use concurrently.
After retiring from the practice of medicine in August 2005, Dr. Nadler, who called himself “the world’s strongest plastic surgeon,” wrote the “The Nip Tuck Workout: Exercise through the Eyes of a Plastic Surgeon” and subsequently moved with his wife to Los Angeles to reinvent himself in a new career as personal trainer with the opening of Nip Tuck Fitness LA in Beverly Hills.
Retired plastic surgeon and certified personal trainer Bruce J. Nadler M.D. has brought his Plastic Synergy training system to Los Angeles. As stated in his book, “The Nip Tuck Workout - Exercise through the Eyes of a Plastic Surgeon,” Dr. Nadler has created an exercise program based on the plastic surgical principles of proportion and symmetry. It combines careful analysis with an individualized exercise prescription.
Bruce Nadler, MD retired after the New York State Board of Professional Medical Conduct charged him with 29 specifications of professional misconduct in thirteen patients according to public records. Rather than fight the charges, Nadler submitted and consent agreement and voluntarily relinquished his medical license.
Failure to obtain and/or note an adequate and complete medical history and/or history of current complaint from patient.
Failure to perform and/or note a complete and appropriate physical examination of patient.
Failure to obtain and/or note appropriate and medically indicated laboratory studies on patient including: prolactin, TSH, LH, hepatic and renal function, and assays for estrogen levels and HCG.
Failure to properly diagnose patient’s condition and/or rule out underlying disorders.
Inappropriately and without medical idnication and/or justification, prescribing and/or maintaining patient on various medications.
Failure to maintain a medical record for patient in accordance with accepted medical standards which accurately reflects his care and treatment of the patient.
Bruce Nadler’s beliefs regarding anabolic steroids and bodybuilding were controversial for physician. He explained his own steroid use and his willingness to prescribe steroids and growth hormone to his patients in an interview with Testosterone Nation:
I’m my own test laboratory in that respect because, in the last two years, I’ve been taking 6 to 8 IUs a week of growth hormone, and I alternate between 200 mg a week of deca and 200 mg of testosterone cypionate the next week. Instead of going super physiological, I believe in just going to maximum natural levels to that of a man in his twenties. In this way, there are no side effects.
Nadler was also critical of the steroid hysteria in the U.S. and the political posturing surrounding anabolic steroids:
I’ve always felt that politicians always have to make the majority of the electorate think that they’re doing something? So they inconvenience a small, unimportant group, like bodybuilders. They have no idea what they’re talking about. Somebody hands them a speech, and they go! They took something that could have been done safely and sent it to the black market and all of the inherent dangers that go along with dealing with that element. Will they ever be legal again? I hope so.
So we all agree that steroids are bad, right? They’ve brought suspicion and shame.
Then it got a little better. Dr. Gupta starts talking about the therapeutic use of anabolic steroids in HIV patients. He talks about the therapeutic uses of steroids.
He seems impressed that steroids can be good but then discusses how the therapeutic uses for steroids were “hijacked” by athletes and especially bodybuilders. Blame the bodybuilders. Parties responsible for the hijacking include the “Arnoldistas” or followers of Arnold Schwarzenegger who, according to Shaun Assael, created a steroid “religion.”
He blamed talked about the “Underground Steroid Handbook” but didn’t even mention the author, Dan Duchaine!
Then Dr. Gupta’s credibility takes a major hit when he talks about growth hormone.
Then there’s human growth hormone (HGH), derived from the pituitary gland.
HGH derived from pituitary glands has not been used in medicine in decades. It is all recombinant human growth hormone nowadays.
But that hope was dashed when I learned that when taking anabolic steroids, “there’s always the risk of, you know, heart weakening and liver tumors.” And then I [again] learned Lyle Alzado blamed his brain cancer on steroid abuse.
Gupta asks what can be done about a good drug gone bad? The first thing we should stop doing is stop associating Lyle Alzado’s brain cancer with his steroid abuse. Why do we persist in repeating this again and again with the standard disclaimer that there is no medical evidence to support it?
Muscular Development first reported rumors of Lee Priest’s suicide attempt. Now, they have determined that there is no truth to the rumors. It was at worst a tasteless publicity stunt.
Dave Palumbo reports on Muscular Development website that Pro Bodybuilder Lee Priest [created rumor of] made suicide attempt yesterday. Lee Priest was purportedly found unconscious after cutting his wrists; he was taken to a hospital in Arizona for medical treatment and subsequently institutionalized in the psychiatric ward of the hospital.
It appears that the State of California considers Viagra and Cialis “controlled substances” when the pharmaceuticals are not accompanied by a valid prescription! Court documents reveal that two of the charges against IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Hidetada Yamagishi involve Viagra and Cialis (emphasis added):
Count 7: On or about December 8, 2007, in the County of Los Angeles, the crime of possession of a controlled substance, in violation of business & professions code section 4060, a Misdemeanor, was committed by Hidetada Yamagishi, who did knowingly and unlawfully possess VIAGRA, a controlled substance without a prescription.
Count 8: On or about December 8, 2007, in the County of Los Angeles, the crime of possession of a controlled substance, in violation of business & professions code section 4060, a Misdemeanor, was committed by Hidetada Yamagishi, who did knowingly and unlawfully possess CIALIS, a controlled substance without a prescription.
Granted, they are misdemeanor charges. But who would have considered Viagra and Cialis controlled substances. Do they meet any of the traditional criteria for controlled substances under the law?
IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Hidetada Yamagishi has retained one of the top Hollywood defense attorneys, Shawn Chapman Holley to defend him in his legal case involving steroid possession and steroid distribution; Holley is a uber celebrity attorney with an impressive resume defending celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Nicole Richey, rapper The Game and Michelle Rodriguez.
Shawn Chapman Holley is a Partner at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP, the chief legal correspondent for E! Entertainment Television, the former Managing Partner of the Los Angeles office of the Cochran Firm, former head of the Cochran Firm’s national Criminal Defense Section.
She is probably best known as a member of O.J. Simpson’s defense team, aka the “Dream Team,” in Simpson’s criminal murder trial. She has extensive legal experience in high-profile cases:
Ms. Holley successfully defended Sara Jane Olson in her highly-publicized cases involving crimes committed by the Symbionese Liberation Army more than twenty-eight years ago. Her clients have included Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, actors Stan Shaw and Nia Long, and NBA basketball stars Larry Johnson and Byron Scott. She was also a member of the defense team which successfully represented celebrated Black Panther leader Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt in a highly-publicized hearing which resulted in his release from prison after more than twenty-five years and the reversal of his murder conviction. Ms. Holley is Chief Legal Correspondent for the E! Network, providing on-air commentary on topical legal issues concerning entertainers and the entertainment industry. She was on-air legal analyst for KABC Eyewitness News in Los Angeles for several years and appears frequently on the Today Show, Good Morning America, PrimeTime Live, The O’Reilly Factor, Court TV, Fox News and CNN. She was a featured lawyer on Fox TV’s Power of Attorney for two seasons and was most recently featured as an on-air legal analyst on the E! Network’s nightly international coverage of the Michael Jackson trial.
With the benefit of Shawn Chapman Holley, Hide may able to get out of jail next week on reduced misdemeanor charges with time served, avoid deportation, and continue to compete in IFBB pro bodybuilding contests in the United States.
IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Art Atwood was approached by the Dallas/Fort Worth CBS affiliate and asked about his involvement in a federal steroid investigation. Atwood was asked about potential steroid charges that he may face, concern about jail, and his association with David Jacobs who has agreed to a plea bargain in the steroid investigation.
