Report: Agent Scott Boras tried to cover up Manny Ramirez's failed drug test
Former Biogenesis owner Anthony Bosch reportedly told federal investigators earlier this year that super agent Scott Boras tried to cover up Manny Ramirez's steroid use in 2009.
Ramirez, then a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball after testing positive for high levels of testosterone.
According to Gus Garcia-Roberts of Newsday, Bosch claims Boras arranged a meeting to help fabricate a story to explain his client's failed test, which included falsifying medical records and using Ramirez's father, who is a licensed Miami doctor, as a witness to give their story credibility.
From Newsday:
Boras, according to Bosch, came up with an explanation for the failed test that involved Ramirez accidentally using an elderly uncle's testosterone cream because he thought it was aftershave.
According to the sources, Bosch made the claims while being debriefed by the Drug Enforcement Agency. The sources said Bosch's accusations were recorded in reports filed with evidence in the federal criminal case against Bosch and others linked to Biogenesis, a South Florida anti-aging clinic that provided performance-enhancing drugs to numerous baseball players.
Boras did not respond to Newsday when reached for comment, according to the report. He later issued a statement denying he's ever met Bosch, and that he did not represent Ramirez in the settlement negotiations between the league and union.
"Furthermore," Boras said, "I was not personally called or emailed about these allegations. Newsday chose to publish this story without any direct communication or contact without me."
Bosch is at the center of a federal investigation into Biogenesis, the now-defunct Miami clinic that supplied athletes with performance-enhancing drugs. His testimony helped expose Alex Rodriguez's steroid use and led to his 162-game suspension.
At the time of the failed test in 2009, Ramirez was in the midst of a resurgence at the plate. Ramirez posted a 1.232 OPS in 53 games with the Dodgers after they acquired the slugger in a mid-season trade with the Boston Red Sox, and was among the offensive league leaders when he tested positive for PEDs.
Records reportedly show that among the banned substances Ramirez used were testosterone and a women's fertility drug.
More from the report:
Anthony Bosch said Boras told him that the MLBPA needed him to produce a patient chart for Ramirez. Bosch responded that he didn't keep records on his patients, so he fabricated a file for the union's use.
Boras, who is a California-based attorney with a doctorate in industrial pharmacology, told Bosch to include hCG, which is commonly used for weight loss, on Ramirez's fabricated patient chart, Bosch said.
Boras apparently believed it wasn't banned by baseball, according to Bosch's account.
Boras also came up with a story, Bosch told the federal agents, about Ramirez's elderly uncle using testosterone cream that resembled aftershave. Bosch added that since Ramirez had a weakness for women, as Boras' story went, one night he unwittingly used his uncle's cream as aftershave, resulting in a failed drug test due to high testosterone levels.
A spokesperson for MLB declined to comment on whether league investigators were aware of Bosch's allegations against Boras.