Peptides! *The * Dopers: come smell the bull****! ESSENDON FANS NOT WANTED

[Adelaide Hawk]

They are totally deluded. Essendon members will have an equal share for not acting in this disaster when it is all over. Should have sacked everyone and taken 6 months 2 years ago.

That's been obvious to thinking people for a long time. All they had to do was tell the truth. take their punishment, hopefully dob in a few cowboys like Dank along the way, and it would be back to footy business by now. Essendon's arrogance is costing them big time, but they can't even realise this.

How a club can employ a man as Head Coach when he is forever swanning off overseas to take care of business, as well as spending most of his time embroiled in legal matters is just beyond me.

Essendon are a very strange club. If I were a member, I'd be wanting my board, coaches and players concentrating on nothing else but football. That's not happening at Essendon, and for some weird reason, that's the way they seem to like it.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

I love that it doesn't matter what happens in this saga, it's never the fault of those who implemented the program, or what happened that should be questioned.

"We are still paying for David Evans spread your butt cheeks policy at the start of it all"

What has annoyed me in all of this is we've wasted 2 years without once getting close to addressing the real issues. What I want to see happen is the appropriate authorities start realising there are people out there who are implementing programs involving illegal drugs. These are the people who should be answering questions and facing charges, not the 35 players who took part in the program.

This whole saga is akin to painting over rust. It solves nothing.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

What has annoyed me in all of this is we've wasted 2 years without once getting close to addressing the real issues. What I want to see happen is the appropriate authorities start realising there are people out there who are implementing programs involving illegal drugs. These are the people who should be answering questions and facing charges, not the 35 players who took part in the program.

This whole saga is akin to painting over rust. It solves nothing.

You obviously missed where Charter was nabbed by the feds.

 

[Xtreme]

You obviously missed where Charter was nabbed by the feds.

We also want Hird behind bars

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

You obviously missed where Charter was nabbed by the feds.

On what charge?

 

[rdhopkins2]

Hird overseas doing research in sports supplements for a new business venture?

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

On what charge?

http://m.theaustralian.com.au/sport...charter-arrested/story-e6frg7mf-1226946436524

 

[Gold Member]

http://m.theaustralian.com.au/sport...charter-arrested/story-e6frg7mf-1226946436524

Please summarise the article mate.

For some reason I have never been able to bypass The Australian's paywall.....

 

[Off The Couch]

I hate paywall

 

[Upgrayedd]

I may of just had some really bad Acid last night and somehow made this up, But i heard Hird was considering appealing to the supreme court on this?

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I may of just had some really bad Acid last night and somehow made this up, But i heard Hird was considering appealing to the supreme court on this?

When the truth will burn, the only option is to appeal.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Please summarise the article mate.

For some reason I have never been able to bypass The Australian's paywall.....

THE Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s star witness against Essendon has been arrested on drug charges by anti-gangland detectives in a dramatic blow to its 16-month pursuit of the AFL club.

The Weekend Australian can reveal biochemist Shane Charter was intercepted at Melbourne’s international airport as part of a broad investigation into criminal activity associated with the importation and supply of peptide hormones.

Although Mr Charter is understood to be a principal target of the investigation, detectives from the Victoria Police Purana taskforce are also examining allegations against former Essendon sports scientist Stephen Dank. Mr Dank denies any wrongdoing.

The Purana taskforce, formed at the height of Victoria’s gangland war to investigate unsolved murders, is tasked with investigating serious crime connected to sport and performance-enhancing drugs.

Victoria Police confirmed a 45-year-old man from Sunbury was arrested last week at Tullamarine Airport and taken to its St Kilda Road headquarters for questioning. Mr Charter was later released without charge.

A police spokeswoman declined to comment further on the circumstances of the arrest, saying the investigation was ongoing. Mr Charter could not be reached for comment.

ASADA’s Operation Cobia, a complex probe into the suspected use of banned peptides at Essendon, the Gold Coast Suns and NRL club Cronulla, is all but complete. Newly appointed ASADA chief Ben McDevitt this week told Senate estimates that decisions on whether to initiate anti-doping proceedings against individual players were weeks, rather than months, away.

The case against Essendon players hinges on the evidence of Mr Charter, who previously served a two-year jail term for importing a commercial quantity of pseudoephedrine, a precursor for the manufacture of methamphetamines.

ASADA’s central allegation against Essendon — that a batch of Thymosin prepared by a Melbourne compounding pharmacy in January 2012 and billed to the club contained the banned peptide Thymosin Beta 4 — is heavily based on testimony, text messages and emails provided by Mr Charter, who helped arrange a shipment from China of raw materials to make peptides.

ASADA, in its interim report, depicted Mr Charter as a well-educated, reformed character.

“Mr Charter essentially described his motivation as being altruistic, borne of a life almost lost due to the use and misuse of performance-enhancing drugs,’’ the report noted.

Since last August, when the AFL relied on the report to dump Essendon from the finals series, suspend senior coach James Hird for a year and impose sanctions against other senior club officials, Mr Charter has been linked to alleged gangland money lender Tom Karas. Purana taskforce detectives are examining separate allegations against Mr Dank, who designed and implemented Essendon’s 2012 supplement regime. The allegations against Mr Dank relate to a series of requests for expensive blood tests and missing prescription drugs.

It is understood police have not questioned Mr Dank, who yesterday strenuously denied the allegations. He continues to advocate the use of peptides in his work as a private consultant but said all his dealings where within the law.

“Everything that has ever been done has been at a doctor’s request and with the doctor’s knowledge,’’ Mr Dank said.

He said he had not had any contact with Mr Charter since last February’s “blackest day in Australian sport’’, when federal ministers, sports chiefs and the heads of anti-doping and law-enforcement bodies gathered in Canberra to launch an Australian Crime Commission report into links between sport and organised crime.

Prior to Mr Charter’s arrest, the case against Essendon appeared at best circumstantial, at worst tenuous. Mr McDevitt told the Senate his investigators had conducted more than 300 formal interviews and examined more than 150,000 documents. Within this material, there is no clear chain of custody between an Essendon player and a banned substance.

The peptide raw materials arranged by Mr Charter were delivered by an import/export company to the Como Compounding Pharmacy owned by Nima Alavi. Mr Alavi compounded a batch of thymosin and hexarelin, a substance banned by the World Anti Doping Code. The peptides were then collected by Mr Dank.

In its interim report ASADA made clear its reliance on Mr Charter. “Given Mr Alavi’s reluctance to assist ASADA, this particular aspect of the investigation relies on other documentary evidence and evidence of other witnesses — most importantly Mr Shane Charter.’’

The last time Mr Charter became the star witness in an investigation was eight years ago, after he was caught with 100,000 pseudoephedrine tablets. In exchange for a reduced jail term, he pleaded guilty and implicated his co-accused. His evidence failed to secure a conviction.

 

[The BIG X]

What is the date of this 'Australian' article??

 

[Gold Member]

Thanks Echols, appreciate it mate.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

What is the date of this 'Australian' article??

June.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I hate paywall

I love lamp?

 

[eldorado]

THE Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s star witness against Essendon has been arrested on drug charges by anti-gangland detectives in a dramatic blow to its 16-month pursuit of the AFL club.

Now, I may be missing something, but how the hell is the arrest of one of the key players, on drug importation charges, a dramatic blow to ASADA pursuing Essendon????

All I can see is more evidence, a clearer chain of source for the drugs, further disrepute on all involved parties, and, perhaps most importantly, leverage on Charter...

Am I on crazy pills?

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Now, I may be missing something, but how the hell is the arrest of one of the key players, on drug importation charges, a dramatic blow to ASADA pursuing Essendon????

All I can see is more evidence, a clearer chain of source for the drugs, further disrepute on all involved parties, and, perhaps most importantly, leverage on Charter...

Am I on crazy pills?

This was in June. They were guessing.

 

[Off The Couch]

I love lamp?

Each to their own

 

[A Diakos]

I may of just had some really bad Acid last night and somehow made this up, But i heard Hird was considering appealing to the supreme court on this?

any further appeal and its the High Court i believe….lots of $$$$$ for Tania & James to spend….

 

[The BIG X]

any further appeal and its the High Court i believe….lots of $$$$$ for Tania & James to spend….

but who's money will they be using??

 

[Brishawk]

If I was an insurer, faced potentially with substantial claims from, say, 25 players who have been suspended for 6 months to 2 years and have lost their livelihoods - multi million dollar claims - and given that this players would be bringing action against the club's coaches, directors and other senior management - including club doctors - all of whom are covered under the club's insurance policy - and given that those claims will potentially fill the courts for a few years - and bearing in mind there may be further regulatory action brought against the clubs personel by the government for serious breaches of health and safety workplace laws - all of which are also covered by the club's policy - I'd probably burn a half mill or so on an appeal to try and seek an order that the initial proceedings taken against the players was invalid or ultra vires.

Hird's costs alone are over 1 million already. Then you also need to factor in ASADA's costs which he is require to pay. Then you have to factor in the likelihood of success of any appeal.

Given the very blunt nature of the verdicts I would suggest the likelihood of success of any future appeal approaches zero. The expected return on the cost of an appeal must big larger than the expected return of an unsuccessful appeal.

Therefore:

Hird should appeal if (Legal Fees for Pursuing Appeal if successful + Impact on Current and Future Earnings) x Likelihood of Success > (Legal Fees for Pursuing Appeal if Unsuccessful + Impact on Current and Future Earnings) x Likelihood of Success

For Example if it will be 10,000,000 better off if he wins his appeal against losing 2,000,000 if his appeal is unsuccessful but he only has 10% chance of success his expected return will be 1,000,000 - 1,800,000 = -800,000.

Given there was almost no room in the judgement in the first instance for an appeal and after his appeal the judges felt the need to inform his legal team the laws which govern appeals (because they conducted themselves in a way which was ignorant of those laws) then I think 10% chance of success is unrealistically generous.

Lets go a bit more crazy and suggest Hird will be 100,000,000 better off if he wins, still will lose 2,000,000 if he loses but has a 1% chance of success (probably still generous!). His expected return is -980,000. Under these conditions he would need to stand to be over 200,000,000 better off to make an appeal worthwhile. Because the chance of success is low (probably less than 1%), it pretty much doesn't matter how much Hird stands to gain (or not lose) by keeping his reputation 'intact' it will leave him worse off (short of a miracle). There is no logic in what he is doing - it is purely about his ego.

 

[The BIG X]

Completely lost with your Maths Brishawk - but agree with your last line
"There is no logic in what he is doing - it is purely about his ego"

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

http://m.theaustralian.com.au/sport...charter-arrested/story-e6frg7mf-1226946436524

Cheers.

 

[A Diakos]

but who's money will they be using??

out of there pockets….Turd is on $ 1 mill per annum from the drug cheats and still employed (which is questionable in itself) so they are also funding in reality…either way its a win win