Story highlights
A report in January tied Biogenesis to a number of baseball stars
MLB sued the clinic in March for allegedly flouting its drug prevention program
A judge this week allowed this lawsuit to go forward, a league spokesman says
Those reportedly implicated in the scandal include Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez
A judge has ruled that Major League Baseball can sue those behind Biogenesis, the now-closed south Florida clinic tied to allegations of performance enhancing drug use by star players such Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, a baseball official said Tuesday.
The league sued the anti-aging clinic and several men associated with it in March, alleging they had flouted the major league’s drug prevention program.
And on Monday, a Miami-Dade County circuit court judge decided that lawsuit could proceed, Major League spokesman Pat Courtney said.
According to reports and the MLB suit filed in the Florida county, the clinic allegedly supplied banned performance enhancing substances to a number of current and former pro baseball players such as ex-Boston Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez.
Report: Rodriguez, MLB negotiating suspension deal
“We believe we have a legitimate legal claim against the defendants, and we intend to pursue it vigorously,” Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball’s executive vice president of economics and legal affairs, said this spring.
CNN has not been able to reach Anthony Bosch, who ran the clinic, or other key figures involved in the clinic since the Miami New Times reported in January that more than a dozen professional baseball players and other athletes were named in records kept over several years by the facility.
One of the players wrapped up in the scandal is Alex Rodriguez, a 38-year-old New York Yankee who ranks fifth in home runs in major league history.
Recent reports have suggested that Rodriguez, who has been rehabilitating all year from an injury, could be suspended for a sizable amount of time as a result.
Yet in an interview this month with CNN, he declined to talk about what has or might still happen, saying, “It’s premature, and we’ll let the process play out.”
The Biogenesis scandal appears already to have ensnared one star: Ryan Braun. Earlier this month, the 2011 National League MVP, five-time All-Star and Milwaukee Brewers outfielder was suspended without pay for the rest of this season for violating the league’s drug policy, Commissioner Bud Selig announced.
This news came out after numerous news organizations – including ESPN, CBS Sports and the Wall Street Journal – reported Bosch was cooperating with MLB investigators. The former network claimed the league could suspend some 20 players in connection with the Biogenesis doping scandal.
