Dr. Michele Ferrari, the infamous coach and sports doctor, who was banned for life by USADA for doping Lance Armstrong and other athletes from the US Postal Service team, has been found guilty of doping Italian biathlete Daniel Taschler by a court in Bolzano.
Dr. Ferrari was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a fine. He was also ordered to pay WADA 15,000 Euro as part of a civil verdict. Taschler was given a nine-month suspended sentence, while his father, who was a one-time Italian Biathlon nation coach an vice-president of the International Biathlon Federation, was given a one-year sentence. Dr. Ferrari has always denied any wrong doing.
Police used phone taps to listen in on conversations between Dr. Ferrari and Taschler. Prosecuters believe they included instructions on how to take EPO and details of secret telephone numbers where Dr. Ferrari could be contacted. Taschler had pushed his son to work with Dr. Ferrari as a way to boost his athletic career.
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This latest investigation was sparked by the Padua investigation which helped uncover financial payments from Armstrong to Dr. Ferrari and other evidence that was used to condemn the Texan. It was moved to Bolzano because the first contact between Taschler and Dr. Ferrari is alleged to have occurred near the biathlete’s home.
First guilty vedict
It is the first time that Dr. Ferrari has been found guilty of doping in a court despite a long history of doping accusations going back to the early nineties when the huge benefits of EPO were first discovered.
He was found guilty of sporting fraud and illegally working as a pharmacist in 2006 after key testimony from former rider Filippo Simeoni. He was eventually cleared on appeal of the latter charge, while the statute of limitations and the slow legal process in Italy allowed him to avoid the case reaching a final verdict.
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