NY Daily News - Melky Cabrera Created Fake Website in Bizarre Plot to Duck Suspension

[Dan T.]

Exclusive: Daily News uncovers bizarre plot by San Francisco Giants' Melky Cabrera to use fake website and duck drug suspension

The scheme began unfolding in July as Cabrera and his representatives scrambled to explain a spike in the former Yankee’s testosterone levels.

By Teri Thompson , Bill Madden , Christian Red , Michael O’keeffe AND Nathaniel Vinton / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

In a bizarre attempt to avoid a 50-game drug suspension, San Francisco Giants star Melky Cabrera created a fictitious website and a nonexistent product designed to prove he inadvertently took the banned substance that caused a positive test under Major League Baseball’s drug program.

But instead of exonerating Cabrera of steroid use, the Internet stunt trapped him in a web of lies.

Amid the information-gathering phase of his doping case last month, his cover story unraveled quickly, and what might have been a simple suspension has attracted further attention from federal investigators and MLB, the Daily News has learned.

Famed steroid cop Jeff Novitzky, a criminal investigative agent for the Food & Drug Administration, and agents from MLB’s Department of Investigation have begun looking into Cabrera’s associates and his entourage, including trainers, handlers and agents, as they search for the source of the synthetic testosterone that appeared in a sample of the All-Star Game MVP’s urine.

The scheme began unfolding in July as Cabrera and his representatives scrambled to explain a spike in the former Yankee’s testosterone levels. Cabrera associate Juan Nunez, described by the player’s agents, Seth and Sam Levinson, as a “paid consultant” of their firm but not an “employee,” is alleged to have paid $10,000 to acquire the phony website. The idea, apparently, was to lay a trail of digital breadcrumbs suggesting Cabrera had ordered a supplement that ended up causing the positive test, and to rely on a clause in the collectively bargained drug program that allows a player who has tested positive to attempt to prove he ingested a banned substance through no fault of his own.

“There was a product they said caused this positive,” one source familiar with the case said of Cabrera’s scheme. “Baseball figured out the ruse pretty quickly.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/exclusive-daily-news-uncovers-bizarre-plot-melky-cabrera-fake-website-duck-drug-suspension-article-1.1139623#ixzz240bE7yvx

Wow. If true, shouldn't Melky get more than the 50 games he was punished, the same amount as Ryan Braun got before it was overturned?

[DCranon21]

I just seen that. Wow, he should be suspended for a whole year for this.

[Spaceman Spiff]

That's so bizarre. The coverup/lie is almost always worse.

[jwpanic]

i'd tack on another 50 games for this stupid stunt.

[Destino]

Do they ever flip these guys to give up their delers? Where is all this synthetic testosterone coming from? Also athletes aren't easy to reach yet all of them seem to have an easy time getting this stuff.