abuse of process

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by US atty

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Bonds' Trainer Remains a Silent Partner

Anderson, who worked with Bonds, had been in prison rather than testify against his friend.

By David Wharton, Times Staff Writer

August 13, 2006

It was the early days of the BALCO steroids case, a pretrial hearing at the federal court building in San Francisco, all parties waiting outside the courtroom. BALCO founder Victor Conte chatted with friends and even joked with reporters, his casual demeanor in stark contrast to another defendant standing nearby.

Greg Anderson, the man known as Barry Bonds' longtime friend and personal trainer, wore an ill-fitting jacket, his dark hair spiked with gel. Despite his thick build, band upon band of muscle, he resembled nothing if not a deer caught in the headlights.

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His attorney at the time, J. Tony Serra, spoke of him as "destroyed and depressed. He's in a state of shock."

Though he eventually pleaded guilty to distributing steroids and money laundering, receiving three months in prison and three months of home confinement, his troubles have only deepened two years later.

Prosecutors consider him a potential key to proving Bonds committed perjury by telling a grand jury he never knowingly used steroids. Anderson has refused to testify against the San Francisco Giants slugger, defiance that landed him back in prison last month.

Anderson, 40, has been released but could be confined a third time if he refuses to testify before a new grand jury that has taken up the Bonds investigation.

Walking out of court two weeks ago, Anderson once again declined to speak with reporters. Unlike co-defendants such as Conte, who relishes celebrity, and Remi Korchemny, a prominent track coach, he is trying to remain as low-profile as possible.

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When news of the BALCO scandal broke in September 2003, Will Flynt wanted to believe his former roommate and baseball teammate at Fort Hays State in Kansas was innocent. But Anderson's subsequent guilty plea hardly came as a shock.

As far back as the late 1980s, Flynt said, "there were rumors."

Anderson was a stocky infielder who could swing a bat, but he was slow, say former teammates and a coach. He was known for continually training.

"He got a custodian or someone to let him into the weight room after hours to get in another lift," former coach Steve Gillispie said in a 2004 interview.

Anderson was team captain his senior year because of his work ethic and good grades. Former first baseman Todd Windholz remembered him counseling younger players about eating healthy and not staying out late. Some teammates thought he took his physical regimen too far.

"We kind of laughed because he was slow and getting slower," said Flynt, now a pitching coach for the Windy City ThunderBolts in the independent Frontier League. "I told him, 'Dude, you need to work on some other stuff,' but he kept getting thicker."

When his college career ended, Anderson asked Gillispie for help signing with a minor league team. The coach suggested he wasn't good enough.

After that, Anderson told people that he was returning home to Northern California.

"I knew that training and weights were something he really liked," Gillispie said. "I knew he was trying to get into personal training."

There was something else that Anderson had mentioned but never made a big deal about. Flynt said: "I remember him mentioning that Barry Bonds was a friend of his."

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They met through youth baseball in San Carlos, a suburb south of San Francisco, Anderson playing on the same fields as Bonds, who today is in Los Angeles for the last of the Giants' three-game series with the Dodgers.

In the book "Game of Shadows," authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams write that Anderson's father, an ink company salesman, was shot to death in a poker game when Anderson was 10. The suspect pleaded self-defense, and charges were dismissed.

Anderson's family eventually moved two hours north, where he continued playing baseball at Nevada Union High in Grass Valley, Calif., and then at Butte College in Oroville.

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Years passed before Anderson returned from Kansas to the San Francisco Bay Area. He started a company called Get Big Productions and drove a car with license plates that read: "W8 GURU."

Working out of a gym in suburban Burlingame, not far from the Giants' ballpark, the trainer reconnected with Bonds.

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By 2000, Anderson was often seen around the Giants' clubhouse and accompanied Bonds on a baseball all-stars tour of Japan in 2002. Bonds' attorney, Michael Rains, once referred to him as "Barry's best friend in the world."

Court files from the BALCO case paint another picture of the relationship, one that portrays Anderson as a self-taught steroids expert and acquaintance of Conte.

In one report, a federal agent recounts Conte's saying that Bonds was "one of the players that Anderson brought to Conte to obtain the clear and the cream."

"The clear" and "the cream" were code names for two steroids that Conte distributed through BALCO, a small company that otherwise sold nutritional supplements. The report has Conte adding that "Bonds takes 'the clear' and 'the cream' on a regular basis."

"Game of Shadows" describes Anderson as a man given to expounding on the finer points of steroid use in an unexpectedly high-pitched voice. The book tells of several brushes with the law, including two incidents of alleged road rage, neither of which resulted in an arrest.

Anderson reportedly had been scrambling for clients and scraping to get by until Bonds came along. The trainer parlayed this new, high-profile client into relationships with New York Yankees Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, but his burgeoning career came to an abrupt halt.

In September 2003, agents raided the BALCO office in Burlingame and Anderson's nearby condominium, confiscating evidence that included doping calendars marked with Bonds' name.

The slugger was among several high-profile athletes subsequently called before a grand jury. According to transcripts obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, he testified that he believed substances given to him by Anderson were flaxseed oil and arthritis balm.

The transcripts also reportedly had Giambi admitting to taking steroids obtained from Anderson.

As the investigation and subsequent criminal case proceeded, Anderson reiterated through his lawyers that he never knowingly gave Bonds steroids.

"They're close friends," former attorney Serra said at the time. "My client is completely loyal to Barry and would never have done anything to put Barry in jeopardy."

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A year has passed since Anderson stood in court and pleaded guilty to federal charges. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston asked whether he had supplied steroids to athletes.

"Yes," he replied.

While he served his six months of confinement, prosecutors continued their pursuit of Bonds. They appear to be focusing on whether Bonds perjured himself before the grand jury and failed to report to the Internal Revenue Service thousands in cash from the sale of sports memorabilia bearing his name.

That led to Anderson's being called back to the grand jury room, where he refused to cooperate for two reasons, his current attorney, Mark Geragos, said.

First, Anderson contends he should not have to testify because of repeated grand jury leaks to the media. Second, Anderson claims his original plea agreement stipulated no further cooperation.

"It's not about loyalty to Bonds," Geragos said. "It's about loyalty to principle  the principle that he made a deal with the government and the government should adhere to their word and the law."

If Anderson has seemed reticent and anxious over the last two years, he also has displayed toughness. He was returned to prison for about two weeks, then was released July 20 when the original grand jury's term expired.

According to Rains, when Bonds heard that Anderson was a free man, the player asked: "When can I go back to working out with him?"

On July 27, Anderson returned to court to face the new grand jury, the same short hair and dark suit, a scruff of a soul patch beneath his lower lip. He attended several closed-door sessions before leaving quietly.

It remains to be seen whether he will be cited for contempt of court and put behind bars again.