Stephen Dank Warns AFL Of ‘Full Thrust Of The Law’ After Lifetime Ban By Anti-Doping Tribunal

Stephen Dank, the controversial sports scientist who was at the center of the Essendon Football Club’s 2012 supplements program, threatened to take legal action against the Australian Football League after he was handed down a lifetime ban by the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal on Friday.

The life ban would stop Dank from working again in any sporting competition or event in Australia or throughout the world, per the World Anti-Doping Agency code. In April, the tribunal found the Australian biochemist guilty of 10 breaches of the AFL's anti-doping code, including “trafficking, attempting to traffic and complicity in matters related to a range of prohibited substances,” according to a statement on AFL’s official website.

“The Australian Football League Anti-Doping Tribunal has concluded its deliberation with respect to the sanction of the former Essendon Football Club support person found to have breached the AFL Anti-Doping Code,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted the tribunal's Chairman David Jones as saying. “The Tribunal has imposed a lifetime sanction, commencing on 25 June 2015.”

Dank, who has maintained his innocence in the supplements scandal, criticized the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal as a “kangaroo court,” adding that he wanted the truth to be revealed “in a real court -- the supreme court of Victoria.” Dank also said that he would launch a series of damages and defamation claims against the AFL and key figures of the league in the coming weeks, the Herald Sun reported.

“We will now accelerate our legal action against the AFL and individual members of its executive who are responsible for this decision being handed down,” Dank told the Herald Sun. “They have contaminated the truth and impaired natural justice, and now they will feel the full thrust of the law in relation to how they’ve handled this process.”