An arrest warrant has been issued for US Cyclist Floyd Landis and his former coach/adviser Arnie Baker for the alleged hacking into computers of the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory that conducted the tests on his 2006 samples. The warrant was issued by a French court on 28th January, because Landis failed to appear at a French court in October 2009 to answer the allegations of hacking.
News of the arrest warrant became evident when the head of the French anti-doping agency (AFLD), Pierre Bordry, said that some of the documents shown in Landis’s defence could only have come directly from the Châtenay-Malabry laboratory computer system. Landis tested positive for testosterone after winning the 2006 Tour de France, becoming the first ever Tour winner to be stripped of his title. He was banned for two years and returned to racing at last years Tour of California, yet after an unsuccessful comeback season, he is yet to sign for a professional team in 2010.
Arnie Baker, a retired physician who became Landis’s first coach, formed part of Landis’ defence team during his trial. He used PowerPoint presentations at fund raising events to show what he believed were inaccuracies by the French lab that tested Landis’s urine. It is this labs computers that they are accused of attempting to hack into. The Chatenay-Malabry lab is accredited by the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency and helped to develop tests for the endurance-enhancing drug EPO.
Comments
Rex 16.02.2010 at 09:39pm
I've read Arnie Baker books out of the library and I think he himself is or has been a racer. When Floyd took him on as an "expert" I respected him doing that. But this turn in events is a bit shocking. Course, that said, what is the scenario? That a computer in the office of Doctor Arnie Baker was used or what? I see Baker has a website but no sorts of updates on it.
Derek Troy 16.02.2010 at 07:02pm
From my reading of it, landis isn't guilty of the hacking he just orchestrated it. Now for him to be accused of that, the French judge must have tracked down the hacker(s) and gotten evidence from them to say Landis either paid them or was the 'brains' behind the operation. That's a fair stretch of the French courts, considering the international... See more arrest warrant isn't actually an international arrest warrant - you'd have to wonder how they managed to gather evidence on hackers when they can't even arrest landis. It's a strange one either way, and it goes to show once again at the top of the anti doping community they are as thick as the dopers, leaving systems open to hacking, having bad procedures that can be called into question every time there is a case ! They really need to show leadership in these labs so that they are beyond reproach. And it looks like I was partial right about this post I put earlier on the facebook page, from the NY Times it seems as if there was a hacker and a Security Firm involved. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03EFDC1030F936A1575BC0A96F9C8B63&scp=2&sq=Arnie%20Baker&st=cse
Stephen Belois 16.02.2010 at 12:24am
Delighted. he still has a lot of questions to answer. If the UCI wont do it's job- Bordry will!
Gert Van Dertan 16.02.2010 at 12:21am
In the movie, Pierre Bordry will be played by Matt Damon and Landis and Arnie will be played by Stan Laural and Ollie Hardey. dumb and dumber!
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