Lance Armstrong: Has Drug Probe Gone Too Far?

Jeff Novitzky, an investigator for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has been called the Eliot Ness of the steroid era. In 2002, when he was an Internal Revenue Service special agent, he spearheaded the landmark probe into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), which was supplying performance-enhancing drugs to several high-profile athletes, including, allegedly, home-run king Barry Bonds. The BALCO case (which also involved money laundering, which is where the IRS comes in) thrust steroids and sports into the spotlight. The relentless Novitzky, who dove into Dumpsters to collect evidence, earned a slice of fame too.

Novitzky contributed to the 2007 Mitchell Report, baseball’s independent investigation into steroid use among its players, by persuading former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kurt Radomski, a supplier of steroids to Major League players, to become an informant. He’s also investigating whether former pitcher Roger Clemens perjured himself before Congress by denying under oath that he used performance-enhancing drugs. It’s serious business: former track star Marion Jones pleaded guilty to making false statements to Novitzky about her own steroid use and went to prison for it. “He’s kind of an amazing phenomenon,” says Peter Keane, professor and dean emeritus at Golden Gate University School of Law, who has closely followed Novitzky’s work. “He’s kind of a bloodhound. No matter what swamp or tree you hide in, he’s going to find you.”

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Novitzky moved to the FDA in 2008, where another alleged steroid connection provided his biggest target yet. That target is not hiding in a tree but riding his bike through the Pyrenees: seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who has been accused by disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis of doping.

Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after failing a drug test, has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career, following a somewhat pathetic campaign to prove that he didn’t cheat on the Tour. He has sensationally accused Armstrong of doping while they both rode for the team sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service earlier in the decade. Among Landis’ allegations: the team sold some of its bikes to fund the doping program. If the team did in fact use sponsorship funds from the Postal Service to buy drugs, the government could prosecute Armstrong and his team for fraud. Cue Novitzky.

Novitzky has reportedly contacted several of Armstrong’s former USPS teammates, and the New York Daily News reported that the government subpoenaed three-time Tour de France champ Greg LeMond to testify. LeMond loathes Armstrong and for years has accused him of using performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong has long denied taking any such substances and has never failed a drug test. He’s dismissed Landis as a proven liar and LeMond as a guy with a big chip on his shoulder. Armstrong says he has not been subpoenaed and has yet to meet with Novitzky but will do so as long as the case doesn’t become “a witch hunt.”

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In building a case against Armstrong, Novitzky isn’t just taking on another big-name athlete. He’s chasing down an icon, an inspirational figure whose high-profile battle against cancer and heroic fundraising efforts to increase research and support for cancer patients have transcended sports. “Does the public care about drugs in sports anymore? I don’t think so,” says Don Catlin, a pharmacologist and drug-testing pioneer who founded the UCLA Olympic Analytical Lab. “The public is pretty ho-hum. But people aren’t exactly ho-hum when Lance Armstrong is involved.”

Novitzky is picking the biggest fight of his life. “I think we’re possibly looking at BALCO Part 2,” says Victor Conte, the founder of BALCO, who pleaded guilty to steroid distribution in 2005. Novitzky, the bald, lanky, mysterious man who emerges from the shadows only to attend steroid hearings in Congress or the federal courtroom, actually grew up just a few miles from Conte’s BALCO offices. The son of a high school baseball coach, Novitzky excelled in sports, even clearing 7 ft. as a high school high jumper. He played college basketball at San Jose State.

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A father of three girls, Novitzky is often described as a straightlaced grinder who is so dedicated to his profession that he has taken calls about his steroid investigations while driving his daughters to a Miley Cyrus concert. “I’ve always thought of government as a bunch of bumblers,” says Catlin, who has advised Novitzky on the science of performance-enhancing drugs. According to Catlin, Novitzky has mastered the material. “Novitzky is not a bumbler. He’s the opposite of bumbler. He produces very serious, very scholarly work.”

According to his defenders, Novitzky’s passion for sports drives his passion to bust the cheaters. “Jeff represents the millions of people who value sports for the good lessons it teaches,” says Travis Tygart, chief executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. “What bothered him was that sports is supposed to be this nice part of life,” says Catlin. And the dopers were sullying sports. “He was incensed over that,” says Catlin.

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A bit too incensed, according to his critics. One federal judge said Novitsky and other investigators showed “callous disregard” for the Fourth Amendment (which protects citizens from unjustified search and seizure) when they raided the lab that housed the results from baseball’s 2003 steroid-testing program. Conte claimed that Novitzky misrepresented their conversations in written statements. “Athletes cheat to win,” says Conte. “And the government cheats to win too.”

Of course, Conte, who was sentenced to four months in prison and four more in home confinement because of Novitzky’s enterprising work, is not unbiased. But given Novitzky’s eight-years-and-counting crusade against steroids — on the public dime — Conte brings up some very fair questions. “How can we justify this expenditure in tough economic times?” asks Conte. “Should this be a priority? This is going to continue to cost taxpayers a lot of money. Is this all in the best interest of the country?”

How much have Novitzky’s steroid investigations cost taxpayers? Neither the FDA nor the IRS would say. “The money spent pales in comparison to the annual salary of one individual player who cheated the game,” says Tygart. No matter the exact figure, Novitzky’s admirers say the government has made a worthwhile investment. “Something as culturally important as sports deserves inquiry,” says Keane. “We have someone as idealized as Lance Armstrong, and if it turns out that he is ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson, Americans who look up to his accomplishments have a right to know.”

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But even someone like Catlin, the UCLA scientist who has dedicated his professional career to fighting doping — he identified the designer steroid produced by BALCO — cannot say with certainty that an Armstrong probe will cover its costs. “I’ve been down the road on these investigations,” Catlin says. “They are expensive, they go on and on, and when they finally conclude, the athletes get a slap on the hand.” He cites the case of Tammy Thomas, a cyclist who received just six months in home confinement after being convicted of lying to a BALCO grand jury. Troy Ellerman received the longest prison sentence, 30 months, of anyone involved in the BALCO affair. The crime? He’s a lawyer who was punished for leaking grand-jury testimony to the media.

Further, the prosecution’s chances in the long-delayed Barry Bonds perjury trial took a huge hit in June, when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that allegedly positive urine samples collected by Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, were not permissible as hearsay evidence. (Anderson has been jailed on contempt charges for refusing to testify against Bonds and vouch for the authenticity of the tests.)

A case against Armstrong could prove even more difficult, since the government has no positive steroid tests from the cyclist (that we know of). “Like everyone else, I want to know the truth about Lance Armstrong,” says Catlin. “But I’m not sure the truth can be known, no matter how many millions we put into it.” And if the truth is what Armstrong says it is, the U.S. will have wasted taxpayer money trying to take down one of its heroes.

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