Disgraced superstar golfer Tiger Woods is in no way linked to the criminal charges that renowned Toronto-area sports doctor Anthony Galea is facing, the physician's lawyer said yesterday.
Galea, 51, who has treated Woods for a knee injury, is facing four charges related to the banned drug known as Actovegin and one charge related to human growth hormone, Nutropin.
"Any suggestion of any linkage to Tiger Woods is non-existent," lawyer Brian Greenspan told a throng of reporters outside Old City Hall court.
"I'm saying categorically it does not relate to anything that's alleged before this court."
Actovegin is used by many specialists worldwide in sports and by soldiers recovering from battle wounds in Israel, Greenspan said.
"Our position is there was nothing unlawful about Dr. Galea's use of that substance in Canada and therefore these charges are without merit."
Greenspan denied that his client was involved with providing "performance-enhancing drugs" to world-class athletes and that reporters writing those accounts were engaged in speculation.
Galea, who wasn't present and won't have to be at the next court date on Jan. 28, is charged criminally with conspiring with his assistant Mary Anne Catalano, 32, to smuggle Actovegin and Nutropin into the U.S. between Jan. 1, 2007 and Sept. 14, 2009.
Galea is also charged with conspiring to smuggle Actovegin from the U.S. into Canada and also with a Food and Drug Act charge of unlawfully selling Actovegin and a customs act violation of smuggling a prohibited substance into Canada.
Galea, a celebrity healer and "miracle man," has treated athletes like Woods and Olympic gold medalist Donovan Bailey and the Toronto Argonauts.
The RCMP alleged it was Galea's intent to treat some of his patients outside Canada with Actovegin.
The drug, a calf-blood extract that aims to accelerate healing after surgery, is controversial as experts argue over its effect and legality.
It has been used in Germany and Italy. It's not on the list of banned substances for the World Anti-Doping Agency, unless it's used intravenously, and some sports experts even question its performance-enhancing benefits.
The charges against Galea come after the RCMP raided his Institute of Sports Medicine Health and Wellness Centre on Oct. 15 in Toronto.
The investigation began when the doctor's assistant, who often drove Galea around, was stopped at the Canada-U.S. border.
Catalano, 32, has been charged in the U.S. for having human growth hormone and another drug while crossing the border in September and has been freed on a $10,000 bail. She is scheduled to be back in a Buffalo court on Jan. 12, 2010.
SAM.PAZZANO@SUNMEDIA.CA
