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It turns out, he had been buying fake pills, laced with fentanyl. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s website describes fentanyl as 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. “One pill can kill” is the DEA’s slogan, and the agency estimates about 70 percent of the 80 million fentanyl-laced fake pills it seized in 2023 contained a potentially lethal dose. “I didn’t know until I turned myself in. I looked at my wife and said, ‘Oh, my God’ because I hear stories all the time about kids going to a party, never taking a drug before, deciding to pop a Percocet, and it ends up being fentanyl, and they die. From one pill,” Cauley-Stein said. “Dude, I was taking hundreds of them, for months and years. It could’ve so easily been me.”
Former LeBron James associate caught up in PEDs scandal but no indication LeBron 'did anything wrong'
A decade ago, the federal Biogenesis investigation -- dubbed "Operation Strikeout" by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents -- led to the conviction of clinic mastermind Tony Bosch, a self-described biochemist, and seven associates. For Major League Baseball, the scandal ensnared Alex Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz and Ryan Braun, the top names among 21 players who would end up suspended and, at least temporarily, disgraced. But what has not been publicly known until now -- found in more than 1,400 pages of unredacted federal investigative documents obtained by ESPN -- are the names of other athletes and figures, from world champion boxers and wrestlers to fitness gurus, entertainers and even law enforcement officials, who surfaced during the investigation of the largest doping operation in U.S. sports history. Among them are former WWE star Paul "The Big Show" Wight; former boxing champion Shannon Briggs; one of the most well-known trainers of prominent athletes in David Alexander; and Ernest "Randy" Mims, a longtime friend and business manager of LeBron James.
While reporting this story, ESPN was told by federal authorities that they found nothing to suggest that Alexander -- who has trained James -- or Mims provided any PEDs to any athletes. But because both had a relationship with James, their involvement in the investigation caused investigators to look at whether James might have been involved in any activity related to PEDs -- and they concluded that he was not: "There was never any indication that LeBron James did anything wrong," the lead DEA investigator said.
In fact, although it had been widely reported that James worked at times with Alexander while playing for the Heat and later the Cleveland Cavaliers, that was not how the documents referred to the trainer. Rather, they identified Miami-based Alexander as the personal trainer of James' wife. (State incorporation documents show she and Alexander also co-owned a cold-pressed juice and smoothie business at the time.) Stanfill, the former DEA investigator, said that because of the duo's connection, the DEA examined whether Alexander's actions had any connection to James and determined that they did not. "I can tell you that we looked into everything just because we knew this day would come ... She wasn't getting any supplements, anything like that. ... There was never any indication that LeBron James did anything wrong."
Russell allowed agents to look at three cell phones he had. It appeared that messages and images had been deleted from text threads, and Russell would not allow agents to look at a fourth phone he had, which led agents to believe it held incriminating evidence. The drug agents took the money and the phones. The seizure was justified on several grounds, Nimeskern said, including Russell’s travel plans, his vague explanations on the source of the money, his deleted messages, prior drug arrests and ties to ongoing investigations. The affidavit said Russell is associated with heroin and methamphetamine trafficking in Kentucky and Indiana, but provided no detail. Russell filed a claim with the DEA to get back the money.
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He also had questionable associations. According to FBI documents, in 2008 Wright sold a 2008 Mercedes-Benz sedan and an ’07 Cadillac Escalade to Bobby Cole, a brother-in-law of Dennis McNeil. Cole was known throughout Memphis for his connection to Craig Petties, the city’s longtime drug kingpin, who had ties to Mexican cartels. When Cole was indicted for drug distribution in 2007, he offered to turn over to the DEA vehicles he had purchased with drug money. They included the Mercedes-Benz and Escalade he had purchased from Wright, which were still registered in Wright’s name. In 2012, Cole would be sentenced to eight years for trafficking millions of dollars worth of cocaine into Memphis and millions of dollars in profit back to Mexico. It’s unclear from the documents whether Wright knew of Cole’s drug trafficking.
The Washington Post reported that Curtis Malone, the founder of the DC Assault AAU club that produced Beasley and other stars over 20 years, was caught on DEA surveillance selling a kilogram of cocaine to a customer at his house. A search of his home turned up another kilogram of cocaine, 100 grams of heroin and other drug distribution paraphernalia. Malone also was convicted of cocaine dealing in 1990.
The trouble Michael Beasley has found during his NBA career can’t be excused. It can be somewhat put in perspective when you learn in this report from The Washington Post that Beasley’s former mentor and father figure was arrested Friday night for cocaine trafficking during a Drug Enforcement Agency year-long investigation.
A DEA agent has died in a robbery attempt in Colombia, U.S. Ambassador Michael McKinley said Friday. Colombian authorities said the American agent was stabbed four times. McKinley told local Radio Caracol that the anti-drug agent had left a Bogota restaurant with his friends after watching the NBA final on Thursday night. He said the robbery attempt occurred after the agent got into a taxi.
The report says Braithwaite was arrested June 14 in a five-state DEA sting that dismantled a drug ring responsible for the distribution of up to 10,000 pounds of marijuana - worth more than $8 million. He was booked at the Maricopa County (Ariz.) Jail on June 23 and pleaded not guilty to all charges June 29. "I know him. I love him. I hope all of this is wrong," Jackson said. "That's all I can go with until it works itself out."
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Warriors coach Mark Jackson has been linked to a man arrested on suspicion of being part of a drug ring. According to Star Magazine, a Drug Enforcement Administration sting caught a cartel internationally distributing thousands of pounds of marijuana. One of the people arrested was Warren Braithwaite, a friend of Jackson's. Both men are members of the True Love Worship Center International in Van Nuys. Jackson and his wife are pastors; Braithwaite served as head usher. Jackson told Star he has "not seen one piece of evidence that Brother Warren is the person police say he is. Our prayers, thoughts and love are for Warren and his family."
The man charged with stabbing Celtics star Paul Pierce in 2000 was convicted of attempted murder yesterday in federal court in Boston for stabbing and seriously injuring a Drug Enforcement Administration informant, authorities said. Trevor A. Watson, 44, stabbed the informant 10 times outside of Ann’s Unisex Barbershop on Tremont Street in the South End on Feb. 27, US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said in a statement. The victim underwent emergency surgery at Boston Medical Center to repair his colon and intestine.
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