Greg Anderson: Difference between revisions
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Latest revision as of 13:31, 3 June 2026
| Greg Anderson | |
|---|---|
| Born: | February 1966 San Francisco Bay Area, California |
| Charges: | Conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids, Money laundering, Criminal contempt of court, Civil contempt of court |
| Sentence: | 3 months federal prison plus 3 months home confinement (BALCO); roughly one year in custody for contempt |
| Facility: | Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin |
| Status: | Released |
Greg F. Anderson (born February 1966) is an American personal trainer. He trained baseball player Barry Bonds and was a central figure in the federal investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, known as BALCO.[1] On July 15, 2005, Anderson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and one count of money laundering. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston sentenced him on October 18, 2005, to three months in federal prison followed by three months of home confinement.[2]
Anderson served far longer for what he refused to do than for what he pleaded to. After his BALCO sentence, federal prosecutors subpoenaed him to testify before grand juries weighing perjury charges against Bonds. He declined each time. Judges held him in contempt of court, and he was jailed repeatedly across 2006 and 2007. Those confinements added up to roughly a year in federal custody.[3] He was jailed once more during Bonds's 2011 trial. Anderson and Bonds met as boys playing middle-school baseball in California, and Anderson never testified against him.[1]
Background
Anderson was born in February 1966 in the San Francisco Bay Area. He met Barry Bonds when the two were children playing middle-school baseball together. The friendship lasted into adulthood.[1]
Anderson worked as a personal trainer and built a clientele that included professional athletes. His work brought him into contact with BALCO, a Burlingame, California, company founded in 1984 by Victor Conte. BALCO presented itself as a sports nutrition business. It also produced and distributed designer steroids, among them a substance called "the clear," tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, formulated to evade standard drug tests.[4]
Anderson became the link between BALCO and Bonds. By the early 2000s Bonds was in his late thirties and putting up the most productive home-run totals of his career. The surge drew attention. When the BALCO investigation became public, that attention turned to whether Bonds had used the lab's products.[1]
BALCO Scandal
The BALCO investigation reached well beyond one trainer and one ballplayer. Federal agents opened the case in 2002. It eventually touched baseball players Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, track athletes Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, and others across several sports. The substances at issue were performance-enhancing drugs designed to beat anti-doping screens.[4]
Anderson was not the operator of the lab. He was a trainer accused of passing BALCO's products to athletes he worked with, Bonds chief among them. Investigators built a distribution and money-laundering case against him.[1]
The case grew out of a raid. In September 2003, agents from the Internal Revenue Service and a San Mateo County narcotics task force searched BALCO's offices, and agents also searched Anderson's home. On February 12, 2004, a federal grand jury returned a 42-count indictment against four men: BALCO founder Victor Conte, BALCO executive James Valente, track coach Remi Korchemny, and Anderson. The charges included money laundering and possession with intent to distribute steroids.[5]
Bonds testified before a federal grand jury in December 2003. He said he had not knowingly used steroids. He said that if Anderson had given him anything, he had not known what it was. That testimony became the foundation for the later perjury inquiry.[4]
Of the four men indicted in 2004, the others resolved their cases without going to trial. Conte pleaded guilty in July 2005 to distributing illegal performance-enhancing drugs and to money laundering, and was sentenced to four months in prison and four months of home confinement. Valente received probation as part of his plea agreement.[6] Anderson took a similar plea deal the same month. His later jailings came not from the BALCO charges but from his refusal to testify about Bonds.[1][5]
Guilty Plea
A federal grand jury indicted Anderson in February 2004 on charges tied to steroid distribution and money laundering.[1]
On July 15, 2005, Anderson reached a deal with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and to money laundering.[2] Judge Susan Illston sentenced him on October 18, 2005. The sentence was three months in federal prison and three months of home confinement.[2] He served that term and completed it.[1]
Contempt and Refusal to Testify
After the BALCO sentence, prosecutors called Anderson before a federal grand jury investigating whether Bonds had lied in his 2003 testimony. Anderson would not answer questions. Prosecutors granted him immunity, which removed his Fifth Amendment basis for silence. He still refused.[7]
On July 5, 2006, U.S. District Judge William Alsup found Anderson in contempt. The judge denied bail and sent him to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California. Anderson was released on July 20, 2006, when that grand jury's term ended without an indictment of Bonds.[8]
A new grand jury took up the matter. Anderson was subpoenaed again and again declined to testify. On August 28, 2006, he was held in contempt a second time and returned to FCI Dublin.[7] That confinement ran until November 15, 2007. He was released hours after Bonds was indicted on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. With Bonds charged, the grand jury no longer needed Anderson's testimony, so the legal basis for holding him fell away.[3]
Much of that custody was civil contempt rather than a criminal sentence. Civil contempt is meant to pressure a witness into complying with a court order, not to punish a past act. Anderson could have ended each stretch by agreeing to testify. He did not.[8]
Anderson was jailed a final time during Bonds's criminal trial. On March 22, 2011, he was again sent to FCI Dublin for refusing to testify. He was released on April 8, 2011.[1] Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice and acquitted on the perjury counts. The obstruction conviction was later overturned on appeal.[4]
Across the 2006, 2007, and 2011 confinements, Anderson spent more than a year in federal custody for contempt. That was longer than his original three-month BALCO term. He served all of it at FCI Dublin, a federal prison in the San Francisco Bay Area.[3]
Anderson has not spoken publicly about BALCO, about Bonds, or about his reasons for refusing to testify. He gave no interviews on the case and made no statements about it.[1]
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who is Greg Anderson?
Greg Anderson is an American personal trainer who worked with baseball player Barry Bonds. He was a central figure in the BALCO steroids investigation and pleaded guilty in 2005 to conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and money laundering.
Q: What did Greg Anderson plead guilty to?
On July 15, 2005, Anderson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and one count of money laundering. Judge Susan Illston sentenced him on October 18, 2005, to three months in federal prison and three months of home confinement.
Q: Why was Greg Anderson jailed for contempt?
After his BALCO sentence, Anderson refused to testify before federal grand juries investigating whether Bonds had committed perjury. Judges held him in contempt of court, and he was jailed repeatedly across 2006 and 2007, and again in 2011.
Q: How long did Greg Anderson spend in prison for contempt?
Anderson spent more than a year in federal custody for contempt across the 2006, 2007, and 2011 confinements. That was longer than his original three-month BALCO sentence.
Q: Where was Greg Anderson incarcerated?
Anderson served his federal custody at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, a federal prison in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Q: Did Greg Anderson testify against Barry Bonds?
No. Anderson refused to testify before the grand juries and at Bonds's 2011 trial. He accepted repeated jailings for contempt rather than testify.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 "Greg Anderson (trainer)". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Anderson remains the quiet man".ESPN.2007-11-15.Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Federal judge orders Anderson's release from prison".ESPN.2007-11-15.Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Barry Bonds perjury case". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "BALCO Fast Facts". CNN. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ "BALCO Head Gets 4 Months in Prison".The Washington Post.2005-10-19.Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Judge sends Greg Anderson back to jail".NBC Bay Area.2006-08-28.Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Greg Anderson held in contempt, returned to jail".ESPN.2006-08-28.Retrieved 2026-06-03.