Ryan Garcia stands accused by Devin Haney’s team of tampering with supplements to show ostarine was present in re-tested samples.
In a stunning turn of events, it seems Haney’s legal advisor, Patrick C. English, and nutritionist, Victor Conte, are pushing the same narrative. English made an impassioned plea to the New York State Athletic Commission over his belief that Garcia’s ‘Chain of Custody’ was nonexistent in recent supplement tests.
Therefore, English states that the fact that supplement bottles were opened when sent for testing makes them obsolete.
“We have read that Mr. Garcia’s legal representatives have sent opened samples of certain supplements to SMARTL for testing. Based upon what we read, for anyone knowledgeable about the drug testing process, this is very clearly an attempt to confuse matters.
“First, sent long after the bout, the samples were in opened containers. If opened containers were ever submitted to bolster a case for doping against an athlete, any results would be completely inadmissible, and
counsel for Garcia would be the first to argue this. Why is that so? Because there are any number of ways an opened sample could have been contaminated. For example, osterine is a powder. The substances sent were powders. Who is to say that a spoon used to scoop out osterine was not also used to scoop out the substances sent for testing? We use this as an example, but there is a more nefarious possibility.
“Who is to say that the samples were not intentionally contaminated? This is why open bottles alone are meaningless.”
Furthermore, elaborating on the Chain of Custody, English added:
“Finally, in this regard, we are informed that there is no chain of custody. Chain of custody (CoC), in legal contexts, is the chronological documentation or paper trail that records the sequence of custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of materials, including physical or electronic evidence. Of particular importance in criminal cases, the concept is also applied in civil litigation and, more broadly, in drug testing of athletes. Absent a valid chain of custody results emanating from the samples would never be considered in the drug testing context. My understanding is that there was no chain of custody.
“I have also read that approximately a month after the PED failure and at least six weeks after the bout [as revealed exclusively by World Boxing News], hair samples were submitted to some purported expert.
“I am submitting as exhibit 4 an article from a scientific journal reflecting the limitations of hair testing. The bottom line is that there are methods of eliminating drug traces from hair and that hair sampling is never permitted to. A more proper method would have been to submit unopened bottles plus, if they wished, opened bottles contradict a positive urine sample. The article speaks for itself. Even Mr. Garcia’s expert acknowledges this. See Pascal Kintz et al. Human Hair Testing for Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators: Current Knowledge and Limitations, Toxicologique Analytique Volume 34, Issue 1. (“A negative hair sample cannot exclude the use of the detected drug and cannot overrule the urine result.”).
“If the hair testing is seriously put forth for anything other than PR purposes, we would be happy to expand on this,” concluded English.
Conte went a step further than English and flat-out made the accusation.
“It seems Ryan Garcia was attempting to dupe the boxing world. Why send ‘unsealed’ and ‘expired’ products to get tested? This is not science. In my opinion, it’s more likely fraudulent activity. His team claims there is contamination when tampering may be closer to the truth.”
Garcia fired back at Conte when referencing his BALCO day when stating, “You should give this a rest and apologize for all the people you did wrong and all the steroids you gave your athletes.”
“People lost money because they bet on a game where they thought the athletes were clean. You are a crook.”
The controversy continues as Garcia awaits his fate.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
