El Paso Naturopath Eric Lira Accused of Supplying Drugs to Suspended Olympic Sprinter Blessing Okagbare

A Texas therapist who specializes in natural remedies has been arrested by the FBI in the first case against a new US anti-doping law. Eric Lira is accused of selling performance-enhancing drugs to two athletes during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Court documents Unsealed Wednesday accused Lira of violating the Rodchenkov Act, which went into effect in December 2020 and was named after a Russian doping whistleblower. The Act prohibits the marketing and sale of prohibited substances during international sporting competitions, including the Olympics.

Lira is alleged to have provided performance-enhancing drugs during the Olympics to be held in 2021, to two athletes identified in the criminal complaint as Athlete 1 and Athlete 2. on some identifiable details, athlete 1 appears to be Nigerian Blessing Okagbare, who was suspended for doping just hours before the Olympic 100 meter semi-final in July.

The criminal complaint says Lira’s alleged scheme was undone after Athlete-1 tested positive for human growth hormone. In addition to physical evidence of prescription bottles and jars, a series of encrypted text messages between Lira and Athlete-1 were allegedly discovered when the athlete was intercepted by border officials on the way back. America from Tokyo.

In the messages, Lira – a self-proclaimed “zoologist and natural healer” based in El Paso — apparently recommended the use of mislabeled human growth hormones and the hematopoietic drug erythropoietin, which he sourced from Central and South America.

In a notice cited in the complaint, Athlete-1 forwarded a link to Lira of a website dedicated to providing performance-enhancing drugs. In others, they discussed “honey” dosages, referring to banned hormones and using coding language for other drugs.

“This also makes it difficult for me to use… I mixed it up but it’s not as stable as Genotropin. 4 I don’t want to waste it,” the athlete wrote, according to the complaint.

In another message listed in the complaint, she texted Lira, “I had a bad race yesterday, Eric. … Frustrated, angry and frustrated… Did you take L arginine injections? ”

Then on June 22, 2021, the complaint states that she texted Lira, “Hola amigo / Eric my body feels great / I just ran 10.63 in the 100m on Friday / with a gust of 2.7 / I’m so happy / Ericcccccc / Whatever you’ve done, is working great.”

In June, the athlete texted Lira again to ask if it was possible to get a drug test after taking a prescribed dose, the filing said. Lira says it was a small dose and should be fine. However, she did not finish the test.

On July 19, 2021, the lawsuit said, Athlete-1 requested any final recommendations before leaving her training tour in Slovakia for the Tokyo Olympics.

In response, Lira is said to have written, “What you have done…will help you for the upcoming events. You are doing your part and you will be ready to dominate.”

That same day, the athlete participated in a blood test conducted by the Athletics Integrity Unit to ensure that the athletes were not taking drugs before the Games, the lawsuit states. . Then, on July 30, she texted Lira saying her test came back positive for a human growth hormone. The lawsuit says she was suspended from competing in the women’s 100m semi-final on July 30 just before the race, and banned from competing for several years.

Even though the profile doesn’t have Okagbare’s name on it, ESPN reported that the sprinter tested positive for blood enhancers in June 2021 and growth hormone in July 2021. Okagbare 100m sprint in 10.63 seconds on Friday, June 18, 2021, and she was also banned from competing in the 100m just hours before the race on July 30.

The lawsuit against Lira alleges that athlete-1 also recommended natural gymnastics to another athlete.

“Remember I told you [Athlete-2] hurt his hamstring, so anything that can help the hamstring heal quickly you can take it too, okay? ‘ she allegedly wrote in a June 7 message.

The FBI was alerted to the possible doping of Athlete-2 through an unnamed informant who was sent to the athlete’s Florida apartment to collect some of his belongings in July, while the athlete-2 is overseas training for the Olympics. Instead, the person found packages from Lira with prescription bottles and needles with labels written in Spanish, the lawsuit said. This person took pictures of the items and turned it over to the FBI.

Lira is not listed as a licensed pharmaceutical prescriber in Texas, New York or Florida — the states where he is accused of practicing. In addition to violating the Rodchenkov Act, Lira is also charged with providing or distributing falsely branded food or drugs between November 2020 and July 2021.

If convicted, he must face up to 10 years jailed for violating the Rodchenkov Act and five for drug offenses.