The law targets people who would skirt doping regulations in international competitions, but it does not apply to major American leagues like the N.F.L. and Major League Baseball.
A man in Texas on Wednesday became the first person charged under a new federal law that makes it a crime to enable doping in international sports competitions. The man, Eric Lira, described by prosecutors as a “naturopathic therapist,” is accused of providing performance-enhancing drugs to at least two athletes, including at least one sprinter who used them to bolster her performance at the Tokyo Olympics last summer. Federal prosecutors in New York announced the charges on Wednesday in the first indictment under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act. Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that the move was aimed at “those who would taint the Games and seek to profit from that corruption.” The Winter Olympics in Beijing open in three weeks, on Feb.4. The law, passed in 2020, makes it a crime to aid or enable doping at international sporting events, including the Olympics, but has been widely criticized because it does not apply to a major American sports league like the N.
