I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 835 

To impose criminal sanctions on certain persons involved in international 

doping fraud conspiracies, to provide restitution for victims of such 

conspiracies, and to require sharing of information with the United 

States Anti-Doping Agency to assist its fight against doping, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 29, 2019 

Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. COHEN, Mr. HUDSON, Ms. 

DEGETTE, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. LONG, Mr. 

JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Ms. MOORE, Mr. RUSH, 

and Mr. TONKO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To impose criminal sanctions on certain persons involved 

in international doping fraud conspiracies, to provide 

restitution for victims of such conspiracies, and to require sharing of information with the United States AntiDoping Agency to assist its fight against doping, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rodchenkov Anti3 Doping Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Doping fraud conspiracies which affect the 

7 results of Major International Sport Competitions 

8 harm the clean athletes, including the United States 

9 athletes, who participate in those competitions by 

10 denying them their due recognition and economic re11 wards. 

12 (2) Doping fraud conspiracies which affect the 

13 results of Major International Sport Competitions 

14 also harm the sponsors of clean athletes, including 

15 United States sponsors, whose sponsored athletes 

16 participate in these competitions by denying the 

17 sponsors the recognition they would have received 

18 had their sponsored athletes not been cheated out of 

19 their rightful placement by doped competitors. 

20 (3) Doping fraud conspiracies which affect the 

21 results of Major International Sport Competitions 

22 also harm the sponsors of those competitions by de23 basing the legitimacy of the product which they have 

24 paid to sponsor. 

25 (4) Doping fraud conspiracies which affect the 

26 results of Major International Sport Competitions 


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1 also harm the media companies which broadcast 

2 those competitions by debasing the legitimacy of the 

3 product which they have paid to broadcast. 

4 (5) Doping fraud conspiracies which affect the 

5 results of Major International Sport Competitions 

6 also harm the general public who pay to watch these 

7 competitions in the expectation that they will be fair 

8 competitions competed on a level playing field. 

9 (6) Doping fraud conspiracies which affect the 

10 results of Major International Sport Competitions 

11 also hurt the sport organizations whose athletes par12 ticipate in those competitions because their sup13 porters assume that the competitions in which the 

14 athletes participate are fair competitions which em15 body the fundamental social values of sport and not 

16 sham exhibitions rigged in favor of cheaters who 

17 dope. 

18 (7) Doping fraud conspiracies in Major Inter19 national Sporting Competitions undermine the integ20 rity and value of not only those events but all orga21 nized sport around the world, including the United 

22 States. 

23 (8) The economic impact of sport in the United 

24 States economy exceeds over $500,000,000,000 

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1 national Sport Competitions seriously threaten the 

2 value of that sector of the United States economy. 

3 (9) Doping fraud conspiracies often beget other 

4 illegal activity, including bribery and money laun5 dering. 

6 (10) The World Anti-Doping Code, which first 

7 went into effect in 2003, has been an effective tool 

8 in the fight against international doping by signifi9 cantly harmonizing the anti-doping rules of sport 

10 and the national laws of those countries which ad11 dress sport doping through legislation. 

12 (11) On August 25, 2003, the United States 

13 ratified the Convention. As a party to the Conven14 tion, the United States has agreed to ‘‘adopt appro15 priate measures at the national and international 

16 levels which are consistent with the Code . . . In 

17 abiding by the obligations contained in this Conven18 tion, each State Party undertakes to adopt appro19 priate measures. Such measures may include legisla20 tion, regulation, policies or administrative practices.’’ 

21 (12) USADA was recognized by Congress, 

22 under the United States Anti-Doping Agency Reau23 thorization Act (Public Law 113–280; 128 Stat. 

24 3020), as the independent anti-doping organization 

25 for the amateur athletic competitions recognized by 


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1 the United States Olympic Committee. Both 

2 USADA and the United States Olympic Committee 

3 are Signatories to the World Anti-Doping Code. 

4 (13) The mission of USADA is to preserve the 

5 integrity of competition, inspire true sport, and pro6 tect the rights of athletes. 

7 (14) As a party to the Convention, the United 

8 States has also agreed to ‘‘insure the application of 

9 the present Convention, notably through domestic 

10 coordination. To meet their obligations under [the] 

11 Convention, States Parties may rely on Anti-Doping 

12 Organizations as well as sports authorities and orga13 nizations.’’ Because USADA does not have search 

14 and seizure or subpoena powers, this cooperation by 

15 Federal agencies is very important to USADA in 

16 carrying out its mission. 

17 (15) Existing criminal statutes, such as con18 spiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to com19 mit mail fraud, have been important tools used by 

20 United States law enforcement agencies to fight cor21 ruption in connection with some Major International 

22 Sport Competitions. However, in other international 

23 sporting events, the facts of a doping fraud con24 spiracy may not support the use of existing laws. As 

25 is evident from the recent exposure of the doping 


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1 fraud conspiracy in Russia involving the Sochi Olym2 pic Games and other Major International Sport 

3 Competitions before and after such Olympic Games, 

4 whistleblowers, including Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov 

5 and Yuliya and Vitaliy Stepanov, can play a critical 

6 role in exposing doping fraud conspiracies and other 

7 fraudulent acts in international sport. 

8 (16) These whistleblowers, including Dr. 

9 Grigory Rodchenkov and Yuliya and Vitaliy 

10 Stepanov, often expose major international doping 

11 fraud conspiracies at considerable personal risk. By 

12 criminalizing these conspiracies, such whistleblowers 

13 will be included under existing witness and inform14 ant protection laws. 

15 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

16 (1) ANTI-DOPING ORGANIZATION.—The term 

17 ‘‘anti-doping organization’’ has the meaning given 

18 the term in Article 2 of the Convention. 

19 (2) ATHLETE.—The term ‘‘athlete’’ has the 

20 meaning given the term in Article 2 of the Conven21 tion. 

22 (3) CODE.—The term ‘‘Code’’ means the World 

23 Anti-Doping Code most recently adopted by WADA 

24 on March 5, 2003. 


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1 (4) CONVENTION.—The term ‘‘Convention’’ 

2 means the United Nations Educational, Scientific, 

3 and Cultural Organization International Convention 

4 Against Doping in Sport done at Paris October 19, 

5 2005, and ratified by the United States in 2008. 

6 (5) MAJOR INTERNATIONAL SPORT COMPETI7 TION.—The term ‘‘Major International Sport Com8 petition’’ means— 

9 (A) a competition in which— 

10 (i) 1 or more United States athletes 

11 and 3 or more athletes from other coun12 tries participate; and 

13 (ii)(I) the competition organizer or 

14 sanctioning body receives sponsorship or 

15 other financial support from an organiza16 tion doing business in the United States; 

17 or 

18 (II) the competition organizer or sanc19 tioning body receives compensation for the 

20 right to broadcast the competition in the 

21 United States; and 

22 (B) includes a competition that is a single 

23 event or a competition that consists of a series 

24 of events held at different times which, when 


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1 combined, qualify an athlete or team for an 

2 award or other recognition. 

3 (6) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means any 

4 individual, partnership, corporation, association, or 

5 other entity. 

6 (7) PROHIBITED METHOD.—The term ‘‘prohib7 ited method’’ has the meaning given the term in Ar8 ticle 2 of the Convention. 

9 (8) PROHIBITED SUBSTANCE.—The term ‘‘pro10 hibited substance’’ has the meaning given the term 

11 in Article 2 of the Convention. 

12 (9) SCHEME IN COMMERCE.—The term 

13 ‘‘scheme in commerce’’ means any scheme effec14 tuated in whole or in part through the use in inter15 state or foreign commerce of any facility for trans16 portation or communication. 

17 (10) USADA.—The term ‘‘USADA’’ means the 

18 United States Anti-Doping Agency. 

19 (11) WADA.—The term ‘‘WADA’’ means the 

20 World Anti-Doping Agency. 

21 SEC. 4. MAJOR INTERNATIONAL DOPING FRAUD CONSPIR22 ACIES. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any per24 son, other than an athlete, to knowingly carry into effect, 

25 attempt to carry into effect, or conspire with any other 


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1 person to carry into effect a scheme in commerce to influ2 ence by use of a prohibited substance or prohibited method 

3 any major international sports competition. 

4 (b) EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.—There is 

5 extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction over an offense under 

6 this section. 

7 SEC. 5. CRIMINAL PENALTIES AND STATUTE OF LIMITA8 TIONS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

10 (1) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—Whoever violates sec11 tion 4 shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment 

12 for not more than 10 years, fined $250,000 if the 

13 person is an individual or $1,000,000 if the defend14 ant is other than an individual, or both. 

15 (2) FORFEITURE.—Any property real or per16 sonal used in violation of section 4 may be seized 

17 and forfeited to the United States. 

18 (b) LIMITATION ON PROSECUTION.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—No person shall be pros20 ecuted, tried, or punished for violation of section 4 

21 unless the indictment is returned or the information 

22 is filed within 10 years after the date on which the 

23 offense was completed. 

24 (2) TOLLING.—Upon application in the United 

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1 cating that evidence of an offense under this chapter 

2 is in a foreign country, the district court before 

3 which a grand jury is impaneled to investigate the 

4 offense shall suspend the running of this statute of 

5 limitation for the offense if the court finds by a pre6 ponderance of the evidence that an official request 

7 has been made for such evidence and that it reason8 ably appears, or reasonably cleared at the time the 

9 request was made, that such evidence is, or was, in 

10 such foreign country. 

11 SEC. 6. RESTITUTION. 

12 Section 3663A of title 18, United States Code, is 

13 amended in subsection (c)— 

14 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

15 (A) by redesignating clauses (iii) and (iv) 

16 as clauses (iv) and (v), respectively; and 

17 (B) by inserting after clause (ii) the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(iii) an offense described in section 4 

20 of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 

21 2019;’’; and 

22 (2) in paragraph (3), in the matter preceding 

23 clause (i), by inserting ‘‘or (iii)’’ after ‘‘paragraph 

24 (1)(A)(ii)’’. 


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1 SEC. 7. COORDINATION AND SHARING OF INFORMATION 

2 WITH USADA. 

3 Except as otherwise prohibited by law, in furtherance 

4 of the obligation of the United States under Article 7 of 

5 the Convention, the Department of Justice, the Depart6 ment of Homeland Security, and the Food and Drug Ad7 ministration shall coordinate with USADA with regard to 

8 any investigation related to a potential violation of section 

9 4 of this Act or anti-doping rules adopted by USADA pur10 suant to the Code, to include sharing with USADA all in11 formation in the possession of the Department of Justice, 

12 the Department of Homeland Security, or the Food and 

13 Drug Administration which may be relevant to any such 

14 potential violation. 

Æ 


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