Toronto, Dec 17 (Inditop.com) After Tiger Woods, his sports doctor. Canadian sports medicine specialist Anthony Galea has been charged with selling performance-enhancing drugs to his high-profile clients.
Galea, 51, who runs the Institute of Sports Medicine and Wellness Center Inc. in Toronto, was Wednesday charged by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) with selling the human growth hormone Actovegin.
Actovegin, which is derived from calf’s blood, is an unapproved drug in Canada.
Apart from Tiger Woods, Galea’s other top clients include Olympic gold medallist Donovan Bailey and many others. He is also head physician for the Toronto Argonauts football club.
The sports doctor has also been charged with importing and exporting the unapproved drugs.
His unethical medical practice came to light in September when his assistant Mary Anne Catalano was arrested by American border officials while trying to smuggle the banned drugs into the US.
According to court documents, when US border officials questioned the assistant she admitted to bringing the illegal medicines into the US on behalf of her employer.
On search of her vehicle, the border officials recovered 20 vials and 76 ampoules of unapproved drugs with misleading labels.
The seizure included the human growth hormone Nutropin, 111 syringes, and medical equipment to monitor the administration of the banned drugs.
The woman was charged with smuggling goods into the US.
Later, the Canadian police raided the clinic of the doctor and arrested him. He will be formally arraigned Friday.
His female assistant whose detention at the US border led to his arrest will also appear in court next month.
She left her job with the sports doctor after her arrest at the US border.
rounak