Dr. Michele Ferrari has been found guilty of doping by an Italian appeal court, confirming a suspended jail sentence of 18 months that was reached in April.
Dr. Ferrari is famous for working with a number of big-name professional athletes, including Lance Armstrong. He was banned for life by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for doping Armstrong and other riders from the US Postal Service team but has always denied any wrongdoing.
Dr. Ferrari was found guilty of doping in Bolzano in the spring after an investigation into his working with Italian biathlete Daniel Taschler, who was given a nine-month suspended sentence. Taschler's father Gottlieb - a former head of the International Biathlon Federation - was also given a one-year suspended sentence. Their sentences were also confirmed by the Bolzano appeal court.
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It is the first time that Dr. Ferrari has been found guilty of doping in a penal court despite a long history of doping accusations going back to the early 1990s when the huge benefits of EPO were first discovered. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Dr. Ferrari said he will appeal the sentence to Italy's Supreme Court. His only success was a reduction – from 12500 to 2500 Euros – in the civil damages the court ordered Dr. Ferrari to pay the World Anti-Doping Agency.
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.
This 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.
A criminal offence since 2000
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