Greg Anderson, the former personal trainer of Barry Bonds, has been released from federal prison. Anderson was reincarcerated on March 22, 2011 for contempt of court after refusing to testify during the Barry Bonds’ steroid-perjury trial. Judge Susan Illston had ordered Anderson incarcerated for the duration of the trial. The evidence portion of the perjury trial has ended and the fate of Barry Bonds rests in the hands of a federal jury as they deliberate the evidence against him. Anderson was released since his testimony is no longer needed.
Anderson has repeatedly defied subpoenas compelling him to testify against Bonds. He was subpoenaed twice to testify before a grand jury investigating Bonds and each time he was sent to prison. This has caused significant problems for federal prosecutors who have considered Anderson a key witness in their case to prove that Barry Bonds knowingly used anabolic steroids and received injections of human growth hormone from Anderson.
Nicole Gestas, wife of Greg Anderson, was threatened with criminal conspiracy charges if she did not agree to cooperate with the government. The U.S. Attorney’s office in San Francisco spent untold amounts of taxpayer money to intimidate Gestas with undercover agents and threatening to charge her mother with serious financial crimes. She and her mother became the targets of a tax probe by the government. Mark Geragos, the attorney for Greg Anderson, has suggested that this was in retaliation for Anderson’s failure to testify against Bonds.
Geragos had also requested an evidentiary hearing for Anderson after the trainer’s most recent incarceration. The purpose of the government’s jailing of Anderson was supposedly to coerce him to testify. However, Geragos wanted to argue that Anderson’s incarceration was “punitive rather than coercive”.
Now that Anderson is out of prison, he still faces potential criminal charges for continually refusing to testify against Bonds. It is unclear if the government will pursue any such charges. It may depend on whether or not Barry Bonds is convicted by the jury. If the government wins their conviction, then they may be less likely to indict Anderson but if they lose, they may looking to make Anderson pay.
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