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By Joe Apu
Eric Lira, the doctor accused of conspiring to commit international doping fraud with a number of athletes including Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of supplying performance-enhancing drugs to athletes at the Tokyo Olympics.
Lira, who prosecutors say describes himself as a “naturopathic doctor” in January became the first individual charged under the Rodchenkov Act, a federal law enacted at the end of 2020 that allows criminal charges against doping conspirators at events involving U.S. athletes, broadcasters and sponsors.
Lira, 42, was arrested in January on charges of distributing drugs, including human growth hormone, to athletes competing in the Tokyo Games.
Prosecutors said he obtained mis- branded versions of prescription drugs used to boost production of red blood cells from Latin America and gave them to athletes.
He entered the plea of not guilty in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger in Manhattan federal court on Friday.
Lira was indicted by a grand jury on March 8 on charges of conspiring to commit international doping fraud and conspiring to alter and misbrand drugs.
One of the unnamed athletes mentioned in the indictment fits the description of Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare, who in February was banned from competition for 10 years for doping by the sport’s independent Athletics Integrity Unit, effectively ending her career.
The Rodchenkov Act is named for Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, who helped expose Russia’s state-sponsored doping following the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
