Nike, Inc.’s Cheating In Sports, 1995-2000
164. In 1996, Lyden was introduced during his lunch hour to Dr. Morris Mann,
Mrs. Mary Decker Slaney, and her husband Mr. Richard Slaney by Mr. Alberto Salazar
in the Boston Deli on the Nike campus. Mann informed Lyden that he had been recruited
by Salazar and was assisting him with providing nutritional and medical support for Mary
Decker Slaney. Mann also informed Lyden that he was going to have a meeting with Mr.
Phillip Knight, the co-founder of Nike, Inc., later that same afternoon.
165. The dialogue on exercise physiology and training between Lyden and Mann
led to later personal communications from their respective homes.
166. In a subsequent conversation with Lyden, Mann revealed that he had reviewed
1984 Olympic Champion Mrs. Joan Benoit Samuelson’s blood work and had used it as a
rationale for attempting to convince her to take substances to improve her health and
athletic performance, but she refused.
167. The conversations between Lyden and Mann caused Lyden to suspect that
Mann and Salazar were engaged in foul play. In this regard, Mann informed Lyden that
he had worked previously with bicyclists in Europe, but that he was “under the radar” and
so it had been necessary for Salazar to look hard in order to find him.
168. Mary Decker Slaney failed a drug test after the 1996 Olympic Trials in
Atlanta, and this was made public in the New York Times on May 15, 1997.
169. Lyden then researched Mann’s background and found that his medical license
had been revoked in the State of California, and he was a convicted felon. Lyden was
informed that Mann had previously worked with bicycle racing teams in Europe and had
then provided a subcutaneous bolus or capsule for the controlled time release of anabolic substances to athletes. Lyden also learned that the substance DHEA, which is known to
have anabolic effects, had been suggested by Mann for use by Nike, Inc. athletes.
170. In June, 1997, Lyden took this information to Mr. Paul Kelly, the acting head
of Nike, Inc.’s legal department in an effort to stop the use and provision of performance
enhancing drugs, or like substances, to Nike, Inc.’s sponsored athletes, and to thwart
certain threatened or actual legal actions that Nike, Inc. was contemplating taking or
supporting on behalf of Mary Decker Slaney against the USOC, USATF, and the IAAF.
171. Between June and September, 1997, Lyden had another conversation with
Kelly. Lyden was told by Kelly that he had followed up and talked to Salazar, who
denied any wrongdoing. Kelly also informed Lyden that he had inquired about Knight’s
reasons for being at the meeting with Mann. Lyden was told by Kelly that Knight had
been curious to meet Mann due to a long term skin condition that Knight suffers.
172. The public statements made by Salazar and Knight in the Oregonian, e.g., on
September 17, 1997, regarding Decker Slaney were inconsistent with the relevant facts
and information which had been provided by Lyden to Nike, Inc.
173. By late September, 1997, it did not appear that Nike, Inc. was confronting and
taking action to stop Salazar or Mann, and so Lyden called and questioned both Salazar
and Mann about their behavior over the telephone.
174. In October, 1997, Lyden reported his phone discussions with Mann and
Salazar to Mr. Kelly in Nike, Inc.’s legal department, and argued that any contemplated
legal actions against the USOC, USATF, and the IAAF would be improper given the
known facts and circumstances relating to the Decker Slaney case.
175. However, despite the information that Lyden had provided to the head of
Nike, Inc.’s legal department about Mann, Salazar, and Decker Slaney in 1997, Nike, Inc.
later supported her lawsuit effort against the USOC and IAAF which was filed on April
12, 1999 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis
Division, No. IP-99-0507-C-D/F—S.
176. On April 17, 1999, Lyden received information that Knight, Mann, Salazar,
and Mrs. Joan Benoit Samuelson, the 1984 Women’s Olympic Marathon Champion had
previously met on the Nike, Inc. campus, and that Mann had then discussed the possible
use of DHEA.
177. The Decker Slaney case received an unfavorable ruling in the U.S. District
Court and was later appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 244
F3.d 580, where she received another unfavorable ruling on March 27, 2001.
178. Decker-Slaney then appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which
declined to hear the case on October 2, 2001.
179. In the period between 1995-2000, the fact the Salazar searched for and
secured the improper services of Mann who had a revoked medical license and was a
convicted felon; that the use of DHEA which is now on the NBG’s banned substance list
was used by at least one promotional athlete and pitched to another in the presence of
Knight and Salazar on the campus of Nike, Inc.; that Lyden had gone to the acting head
of Nike’s legal department with the information on Mann and the improper activity; that
Salazar and Knight knew what Decker Slaney had taken and caused her to test positive,
but nevertheless publicly represented her to be blameless in the Oregonian Newspaper;
and, that Nike’s later provided support for Decker Slaney’s lawsuits in Federal Court v. the USOC and IAAF, and including, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court...is believed to
provide evidence of at least two overt acts of commission by Nike, Inc. sufficient to
establish a pattern of behavior of predicate acts as defined by Oregon State and Federal
RICO laws during the period 1995 - 2000.
180. In 1997, Brown told Mr. James Ferstle, a newspaper reporter from St. Paul,
MN, that after Mary Decker Slaney tested positive in 1996, an individual at Nike, Inc.
called and informed him that the substance which she had taken that caused her to test
positive was DHEA, and Brown was then asked to provide Nike, Inc. with ideas on how
to make persuasive arguments so as to attempt to beat the rap.
181. Further, the use and experimentation with the drug Prozac for athletic
performance purposes by Salazar and some of Nike, Inc.’s sponsored distance runners
also became public knowledge during this period.
182. Having failed to convince Nike, Inc. of the impropriety of supporting a
lawsuit v. the USOC and IAAF, and not wanting to become an accessory after the fact,
Lyden spoke with and provided information to the attorney for the IAAF.
183. The case against the USOC and IAAF was dismissed, and Slaney was found
guilty of a doping offense by the IAAF.
184. Unfortunately, the efforts of Nike, Inc. relating to supporting cheating in sport
in order to feed Nike, Inc.’s marketing formula did not end with the Decker Slaney
episode and related pattern of misbehavior between 1995 - 2000. In this regard, the
names of the doctors who are solicited by Nike, Inc., and what substances and protocols
the athletes use in order to beat the drug tests may change, but the same improper game and unfair business practice for continuing to leverage the phenomenal in sports for
dollars...goes on.
Nike, Inc.’s Cheating in Sports, 2005 - Present
185. Mr. Alberto Salazar has a building named after him on the Nike, Inc. campus
in Beaverton, Oregon, and he has been responsible and enjoyed considerable power and
influence over the selection of distance runners who have been provided with
promotional contracts. At the same time, Salazar has also coached some of Nike, Inc.’s
highest profile and elite athletes including, Mr. Mo Farah, and also Mr. Galen Rupp.
186. Mr. Galen Rupp was a minor when Salazar began coaching him, and more
recently, Salazar has been working with Miss Mary Cain, age 17.
187. The period 2005 – present has brought some new and even more disturbing
developments regarding Nike, Inc.’s pursuit of the next “magic elixir and Dr. Faustus.”
188. Lyden received threats by Dr. Morris Mann during a phone conversation in
1997, and was later advised to keep a record of his information and experiences.
Accordingly, Lyden then began to write a living document entitled “Nike, Drugs and
Sport,” which provides a historical and narrative account relating to Nike, Inc.’s behavior
on the subject. A copy of the current version of this document is attached hereto as
Exhibit LLLL. However, the names of certain individuals and some information has
been redacted in order to protect both the identity of innocent witnesses from the
possibility of retaliation, but also the identity of athletes and individuals who in their
youth, perhaps made decisions which they may possibly regret...because of their relative
inexperience, but also because they were then under the influence and guidance of older
individuals in positions of responsibility who were coaches and / or administrators working for Nike, Inc. Some of these individuals whose names are recited, but also some
whose names have been redacted will provide declarations and /or testimony at trial.
189. As disclosed in the attached document “Nike, Drugs and Sport,” Exhibit
LLLL, Lyden has been approached by several individuals who were associated with
Nike, Inc.’s “Oregon Project.” In brief, the use of the drugs Prozac and Prednisone for
athletic performance purposes which are controlled substances, but also other substances
called “Testoboost,” “GH-Enhancer,” “Alpha- Male,” Androgel, and a mystery substance
marked “allergy medicine” which was in a distinctive container resembling those used for
EPO which had to be kept refrigerated under 34 degrees, another substance which was
seen by an individual in the media in Mr. Mo Farah’s bag after the 2012 Olympic Final
and cover-up of this discovery by Nike, Inc., but also, the controversial treatment for the
alleged thyroid disorders of several elite Nike, Inc. promotional distance runners which
has been called into question by other reputable doctors, would provide at least two overt
acts believed to be sufficient to establish a pattern of predicate acts as defined by Oregon
and Federal RICO laws, and may also invite, if not demand, a grand jury investigation
which might once and for all...help to bring an end to over 30 years of wrongdoing.
190. Dick Brown, Ph. D. is now gravely ill.
191. Salazar has in more recent years engaged Dr. Jeffrey Brown of Houston,
Texas, and Nike, Inc. has been paying for his services, as revealed in the recent Wall
Street Journal article published on April 10, 2013, entitled “U.S. Track’s Unconventional
Physician Dr. Brown Treats Runners For A Disorder Not Known to Afflict Them.
His
Patients’ Medal Count: 15 Olympic Golds,” by Sara Germano and Kevin Clark, Wall
Street Journal, April 10, 2013, attached hereto as Exhibit SS.
