MLB was so desperate to nail the baseball players implicated in the Biogenesis scandal, they offered the whistleblower $125,000 for information related to the case. That is one of many noteworthy tidbits former Biogenesis associate Porter Fischer shared with ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”
Fischer told “Outside the Lines” that he leaked Biogenesis documents to the Miami New Times, which first reported the story, because of a monetary dispute with Biogenesis founder Tony Bosch (pictured). Fischer says he was upset to learn that Bosch was not a real doctor as he claimed to be, and he says he was owed $3,600 from Bosch after investing in the company last year. Bosch paid $1,200 of the $4,800 Fischer was owed and then stopped paying. Fischer got back at Bosch by leaking the documents.
[Previously: Tony Bosch was running BALCO of the East]
Fischer told ESPN’s T.J. Quinn that he took his information to the New Times because he was reluctant to go to the police with the information after seeing the name of local police, attorneys, and a judge in the documents. He said he hoped a federal investigation would be launched after the article’s publication.
Fischer told ESPN that MLB gave him $5,000 and an extra $500, and that they even offered him $125,000 for his information. He says he did not take the money.
Fischer says his life has been turned upside down since the New Times story was published. He says his car was broken into, with records and a computer stolen. He says he has been harassed numerous times.
In addition to the numerous baseball players caught in the Biogenesis scandal, the New Times identified boxer Yuriorkis Gamboa and tennis player Wayne Odesnik as athletes in the records. Fischer says he and associates identified NBA players, MMA fighters, boxers, NCAA athletes, and tennis players in the documents. As far as he knows, no NHL or NFL players were Biogenesis clients.
