BAMAPHIN 22
FinHeaven Elite
The FBI has targeted a defense attorney for leaking confidential grand jury information linking Barry Bonds and other world-class athletes to alleged steroid use, Yahoo! Sports has learned.
The defense attorney, Troy Ellerman, has been the subject of an FBI investigation, according to Larry McCormack, a former private investigator who worked on the BALCO federal steroids case and who said he was a co-tenant in an office with Ellerman in Sacramento, Calif., where they worked together on cases, at the time of the alleged leaks. Other sources have said they were interviewed by the FBI.
McCormack, who said he did investigative work on behalf of BALCO founder Victor Conte Jr. in the early stages of the case, said he told the FBI that Ellerman relayed confidential grand jury information to a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle in 2004.
"I felt it was wrong," McCormack said of the leaks during a recent interview. "I said it was wrong from the get-go."
Ellerman, reached by phone Wednesday, said, "I don't have any comment."
Ellerman initially represented Conte, who founded Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), the company at the center of the steroid distribution investigation. Ellerman later represented James Valente, vice president of BALCO.
Both men pleaded guilty in 2005 to charges connected to the distribution of steroids. Conte was sentenced to four months in prison and four months of house arrest. Valente received probation.
Conte did not respond to calls and an email from Yahoo! Sports. His attorney, Mary McNamara, said, "Neither Victor nor our firm will be making any comment."
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news;_y...5nYcB?slug=jo-balco122106&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
The defense attorney, Troy Ellerman, has been the subject of an FBI investigation, according to Larry McCormack, a former private investigator who worked on the BALCO federal steroids case and who said he was a co-tenant in an office with Ellerman in Sacramento, Calif., where they worked together on cases, at the time of the alleged leaks. Other sources have said they were interviewed by the FBI.
McCormack, who said he did investigative work on behalf of BALCO founder Victor Conte Jr. in the early stages of the case, said he told the FBI that Ellerman relayed confidential grand jury information to a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle in 2004.
"I felt it was wrong," McCormack said of the leaks during a recent interview. "I said it was wrong from the get-go."
Ellerman, reached by phone Wednesday, said, "I don't have any comment."
Ellerman initially represented Conte, who founded Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), the company at the center of the steroid distribution investigation. Ellerman later represented James Valente, vice president of BALCO.
Both men pleaded guilty in 2005 to charges connected to the distribution of steroids. Conte was sentenced to four months in prison and four months of house arrest. Valente received probation.
Conte did not respond to calls and an email from Yahoo! Sports. His attorney, Mary McNamara, said, "Neither Victor nor our firm will be making any comment."
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news;_y...5nYcB?slug=jo-balco122106&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
