Anthony Galea, a Toronto-based sports doctor, will not be prosecuted in Canada for charges related to selling performance-enhancing drugs according to the Canadian Public Prosecution Service. Galea was a sports medicine pioneer who admitted to routinely smuggling human growth hormone (hGH) and Actovegin into the United States from Canada.
Galea pleaded guilty to the federal charges related to selling an unapproved new drug, exporting a drug, conspiring to import and unapproved drug and smuggling. Galea was not caught smuggling drugs. Instead, it was his former assistant Mary Anne Catalano who was caught at the Canda-United States international border check point with hGH and Actovegin in her possession. Catalano claimed that the smuggling was done under the direction of Galea.
U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara sentenced Galea to a suspended sentence in the United States District Court in Buffalo on July 2011. The suspended sentence was recommended by the prosecution as part of the plea agreement.
Galea has treated professional athletes from a variety of sports including golfer Tiger Woods, MLB players Alex Rodriguez, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran and NFL football players Takeo Spikes and Jamal Lewis.
Several professional athletes were interviewed by federal investigators during the course of the Galea investigation.
The attorney for one unnamed football player told investigators that Galea had two hGH kits shipped directly to his client’s house.
Woods, the winner of 14 Major Championship victories in the PGA, denied receiving anabolic steroids or performance-enhancing drugs from Dr. Galea. Instead, Woods reported that Galea provided him with an experimental therapy called platelet-rick plasma therapy. The therapy involves reinjecting plasma back into the patient’s blood in order to facility the soft tissue healing process.
Anabolic steroids were not included in the list of performance-enhancing drugs that Galea was accused of illegally importing from Canada.
Source:
Connor, K. (April 13, 2012). Anthony Galea in the clear. Retrieved from http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/14/anthony-galea-in-the-clear
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