MIAMI — A cousin of Alex Rodriguez who injected the baseball star with steroids and a onetime clinic owner accused of providing the performance-enhancing drugs to several players have been arrested in connection with a drug conspiracy, authorities said Tuesday.
Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Mia Ro said Yuri Sucart was among nine people arrested. Also arrested was former Biogenesis of America clinic owner Anthony Bosch, who was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to distribute steroids, according to court records. The documents do not specify whether the charges are directly related to the Major League Baseball scandal.
It was not immediately clear what Sucart had been charged with.
Sucart, 52, was banned from the New York Yankees’ clubhouse, charter flights, bus and other team-related activities by Major League Baseball in 2009 after Rodriguez admitted he used steroids while with Texas from 2000 to 2003, saying Sucart obtained and injected the drugs for him.
Court documents say that from October 2008 through December 2012, Bosch willfully conspired to distribute the anabolic steroid testosterone.
Bosch surrendered Tuesday morning, and eight other people also have been arrested, including Sucart, Ro said. Among the others charged were Carlos Javier Acevedo, 35, of Miami; Jorge Augustine Velazquez, 43, of Miami; Christopher Benjamin Engroba, 25, of Miami; Lazaro Daniel Collazo, 50, of Hialeah; and Juan Carlos Nunez, 48, of Fort Lauderdale.
A Miami New Times report from January 2013, which sparked MLB’s investigation, said Rodriguez had bought human growth hormone and other substances from 2009 to 2012 from Bosch’s clinic, Biogenesis of America. The newspaper said it had obtained records detailing the purchases by Rodriguez and other ballplayers.
Fourteen players associated with the Coral Gables clinic were disciplined last year by MLB, including a season-long 2014 suspension imposed on Rodriguez.
Rodriguez’s suspension is the longest penalty in the sport’s history related to performance-enhancing drugs. He was the only player involved in the scandal to contest his penalty.
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