Ministry of Justice launches criminal investigation into Chinese doping case

The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into how anti-doping authorities and sports officials allowed top Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance to avoid punishment and win a number of medals – including three gold – at the last Olympics, according to two people familiar with the matter and the International Swimming Federation.

The decision to launch a criminal investigation represents a dramatic escalation by the United States against the Chinese, international anti-doping authorities and the Olympic movement, and will cast a shadow of criminality over the Summer Games scheduled to begin in Paris later this month.

Eleven of the swimmers who tested positive – who have never been suspended for doping – are back on the Chinese Olympic team. Some of them are considered favorites to win another medal.

The revelation of the investigation comes just over two months after The New York Times revealed that the World Anti-Doping Agency and Chinese anti-doping authorities had declined to take disciplinary action against 23 top Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned drug in early 2021. The decisions not to suspend the athletes and keep the positive tests secret paved the way for the swimmers to compete and win medals at the Tokyo Games.

The Times reported that the FBI learned of the positive tests and the decision to clear the athletes of any wrongdoing last year, and that in recent weeks federal investigators have taken steps to learn more about what happened, but it was unclear whether a full criminal investigation into the matter has been launched.

When the executive director of World Aquatics, the international swimming federation, was in the United States last month attending the U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis, he was approached by federal investigators to discuss how the positive tests were handled, according to two people familiar with the matter. Those people declined to remain anonymous while discussing an ongoing investigation.

It is unclear what the swimming association’s executive director, Brent Nowicki, told authorities in their conversation. Mr. Nowicki took office in June 2021, days before Chinese authorities informed the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Aquatics that they had decided not to treat the positive tests as anti-doping violations.

As part of his negotiations with investigators, Mr. Nowicki received a grand jury subpoena, World Aquatics said in a statement.

“World Aquatics can confirm that its CEO, Brent Nowicki, has been served with a subpoena by the U.S. government,” World Aquatics said. “He is working to arrange a meeting with the government that will, in all likelihood, eliminate the need for him to testify before a grand jury.”

It is unclear how helpful Nowicki will be to investigators: He only joined the swimming association months after the first positive tests, and after the Chinese submitted a dossier to WADA explaining how and why they released their athletes.

The Associated Press first reported the World Aquatics statement on Thursday.

Further evidence has emerged that officials at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) are aware of ongoing criminal prosecutions against them by American authorities. Late last month, WADA cancelled a meeting with other anti-doping authorities and sports officials in the United States scheduled for later this year.

In a phone call announcing the meeting’s cancellation, a WADA official said one of the reasons for the cancellation was that the organization’s leadership did not want to travel to the United States because of an ongoing investigation by U.S. federal authorities, according to Travis Tygart, the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Mr. Tygart – one of WADA’s most vocal critics – was not on the phone, but one of his deputies was, he said.

The federal investigation is being conducted in part by authorities in Boston, two people familiar with the matter said. Authorities have interviewed at least two witnesses, the two people said.

The escalation of the case represents perhaps the most significant investigation into a doping offense since the United States passed the law in 2020, known as the Rodchenkov Act, criminalizing doping at elite international sporting events wherever they take place. The investigation would mark the first time U.S. authorities have focused on an international sports federation under that law. WADA has been a critic since the new law was first proposed, arguing that criminalizing doping in one country would jeopardize WADA’s efforts to maintain consistent rules for sport everywhere.

At the heart of the swimming case is the fact that the World Anti-Doping Agency agreed with China’s claim that the positive tests for the banned substance – a prescription heart medication – were the result of a “mass contamination event.” But other anti-doping experts and authorities found that claim highly dubious, arguing that the lack of penalties and public identification of the athletes indicated a massive cover-up.

In response, Congress in May asked the FBI to launch an investigation, and congressional committees began their own probes, including a hearing last week where Michael Phelps, the most decorated swimmer in Olympic history, testified about the need for accountability.

WADA’s anti-doping officials have done everything they can to protect the organization’s reputation and have defended their handling of the case since the 23 cases first became public. They have held numerous meetings with affected groups, including hundreds of athletes and national anti-doping organizations. These efforts have failed to allay many of the concerns, and WADA has still not released any of the information it relied on in its original decision.

A report by an independent prosecutor commissioned by WADA to investigate its decision-making is due to be published before the Olympics, but even that may not be enough to end the controversy before the Games begin, given concerns about the independence of the Swiss official tasked with the task.

World Swimming officials stressed that they were being called to provide information as witnesses and were not being interviewed as a target of the federal investigation. WADA declined to comment.

The risks and timing of an American investigation are particularly high given the country’s relationship with the International Olympic Committee. Los Angeles will host the next Summer Olympics after Paris in 2028, while Salt Lake City has been given the IOC’s preferred bid for the 2034 Winter Olympics.