Conte allegedly admits giving Bonds, others drugs

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A report obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News indicates that the owner of Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative told federal investigators he gave steroids to nearly 30 athletes, including Barry Bonds and track stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.

According to the newspapers, the document summarizes an Internal Revenue Service investigator's interview of Victor Conte last Sept. 3 during a search of the company, at which time Conte volunteered the names of the athletes.

Conte's lawyers confirmed to the NY Times on Monday that in the IRS report, Conte is quoted as saying he provided steroids to high-profile athletes.

But his lawyers claim the statements attributed the BALCO founder are fabrications and that Conte made no such admissions.

And they denied that Conte provided the names of 27 athletes -- among them Bonds, Jones, Montgomery, Kelli White and the Yankees' Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield -- to whom the report states he allegedly gave steroids.

"Victor Conte adamantly denies giving up any names of any athletes, period," Conte's attorney, Robert Holley, told the paper in a telephone interview.

Holley declined to respond when questioned whether Conte had admited or denied giving steroids to athletes.

The report, however, apparently does not say if any of the athletes used the substances -- THG, testosterone cream or both -- obtained from Conte.

The story on the Chronicle's Web site, quoting sources who requested anonymity, said Conte told federal investigators that Jones and Montgomery received the performance-enhancing substances in exchange for endorsements of his nutritional supplement.

Conte's attorneys question the legality of the interview and the veracity of the IRS agent's claims. His lawyers contend the IRS report is filled with fabrications and that Conte's statements have either been falsified or were coerced, as the IRS interview was conducted under intimidating circumstances and without a tape recorder.

"The coercive nature of that interview as well as the disputed contents of what the agents claim was said in that mysteriously unrecorded statement will be the subject of pretrial motions," defense lawyers Holley and Troy Ellerman said in a prepared statement.

Ellerman told the Times investigators were "drunk with power" and accused government officials of leaking information to influence potential jurors.

"If they had any confidence in the case, they'd keep quiet," Ellerman told the paper. Ellerman said Conte was willing to take a lie-detector test to prove he and not provided the names of any athletes to authorities.

According to the Mercury News, Conte, in the report by IRS agent Jeff Novitzky and co-signed by San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force officer Jon Columbet, is quoted as saying: