Spoiler - If yesterday didn't do it....

antoineg

Sounds great on Law & Order: SVU: except for one thing: how on earth would the carabinieri find out that Simeoni was using EPO? Further, how would they be able to prove it such that the threat of prosecution was sufficient to force him to rat out Ferrari?

Your house of cards is missing one at the bottom. <cough/>

RedSky

Are you not aware that Simeoni has already been caught using EPO?

grattorney

It was my understanding that Simeoni admitted using EPO or was caught using it and served a four month suspension. I assumed he was caught by some sanctioning body. It would be a very easy step then for the prosecuting authorities to tell him, "now that you have been caught, give us your source or we will prosecute you criminally."

And, in any event, I in no way meant to imply that what I stated above did in fact happen. Rather, I was merely stating that such plea deals are very common in the legal world and tried to show how it would be plausible in this context. I have no inside information or special insight on this matter.

antoineg

I'm curious if any rider has ever served time for a conviction for the use of EPO (as opposed to having a carful of it, with the probable intent to distribute).

Anyone know?

antoineg

Yes, and he had been suspended and finished his suspension well before the Ferrari case started -- at least that's my understanding of the somewhat-muddled timeline.

You're saying that after he served his suspension, the Italian police went to him and said "we will reopen the case and force you to serve jail time unless you untruthfully rat out Dr. Ferrari?"

But wait -- back in 1998, before his suspension, and presumably under no threat from the Italian police then, Simeoni went public on Ferrari. Are you saying that the original statements were coerced by the police?

Why not just call a spade a spade.

meehs

I have no idea. Is possession of the stuff itself actually illegal? Or is it only illegal when used as a peformance enhancer in the sporting world? Good question.

RedSky

I'm not saying anything like that. I have no idea what happened, because I wasn't there. A lot of scenarios are possible. Some seem more likely than others, depending on who you talk to or read.

I guess we'll find out in time.