The Taylor Hooton Foundation has been hired by the Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) to conduct “anti-steroid” assemblies in Rhode Island high schools during the 2013-2014 academic year. The press coverage failed to mention that the THF has bodybuilders to thank for the new influx of revenue.
In an unusual turn of events, money spent by bodybuilders on performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) has ended up in the pocket of THF president Don Hooton. Even stranger was the possibility that this may not have happened without the use of United States anti-terrorism laws!
The Taylor Hooton Foundation for Fighting Steroid Abuse was founded after its namesake committed suicide in 2003. Don Hooton has blamed steroids for the tragedy. The THF regularly conducts anti-steroid seminars and assemblies to discourage teenagers from using steroids.
So, how does money spent to buy anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (hGH) on the black market find it’s way to fund anti-steroid lectures for high school students? And what does this have to do with terrorism? Follow the money.
THF was paid by the Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) as part of its “Operation Clean Competition” project. Where did RIIL get the money?
RIIL received a $75,000 grant from the Rhode Island Foundation (RIF). According to its website, the RIF is a “proactive community and philanthropic leader dedicated to meeting the needs of the people of Rhode Island.” The RIF happens to have its own special fund called the “Clean Competition Fund.” The fund has $3 million earmarked for “outreach, education, and testing of human growth hormone (“hGH”) steroids.”
Never mind that the RIF doesn’t know that hGH is not an anabolic steroid. Where did the RIF receive the $3 million dollar in anti-steroid payola?
The anti- “hGH steroids” initiative is being paid for entirely by a Chinese company called the GeneScience Pharmaceutical Company (“GeneSci”). For those unfamiliar with the PED black market, GeneSci is the manufacturer of the popular Jintropin-brand hGH.
Who would have thought that one of China’s largest biopharmaceutical company cared so much about “the needs of the people of Rhode Island”?
Actually, GeneSci doesn’t really give a rat’s ass about Rhode Island residents. The China-based GeneSci had little choice but to comply with the demands of the United States government.
GeneSci and its founder were indicted as part of Operation Raw Deal in 2007. They were charged with illegally marketing and distributing human growth hormone over the internet to bodybuilders, athletes, and pharmacies.
GeneSci was pressured into a plea bargain agreement after the United States government seized $2.7 million from its bank accounts.
After all, when a world super power announces that it has the “legal” right to seize/steal/take millions of dollars from a bank account “physically located” in a sovereign country and belonging to a foreign company, then what choice did GeneSci have?
The successful asset forfeiture of $2.7 million GeneSci was legally justified using the USA Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was presumably passed to fight terrorism. But critics knew all along that it would be (ab)used for other purposes. It turns out that the Patriot Act is finding good use in the U.S. war on steroids and PEDs.
GeneSci consequently pleaded guilty to a felony in 2010 and agreed to a total asset forfeiture of $7.2 million. Peter F. Neronha, the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island, saw a golden opportunity to benefit “the needs of the people of Rhode Island” with the plea agreement. Neronha decided to squeeze an extra $3 million out of GeneSci for the “Clean Competition Fund” administered by the Rhode Island Foundation.
GeneSci has paid the RIF $1 million per year for the past three years in order to fulfill the conditions of their plea agreement. And the RIF is finally spending the money with it’s inaugural grant of $75,000 to the RIIL.
So, from the pockets of bodybuilders to black market sources to the makers of Jintropin hGH to the Rhode Island Foundation to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League and finally to the Taylor Hooton Foundation, this is the unbelievable story of how Don Hooton got your money.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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