NY Times: The $4,000 Deal Gone Sour Behind the Doping Scandal

Not many people know what their life’s worth is. I do. Four grand. That’s what they took from me. And that’s what I was going to get back.

Bosch treated [Porter] Fischer through 2011 and 2012, even as Bosch cycled through business partners and clinic locations. Fischer, who was looking to leave the “impersonal and spotty” corporate world, saw Bosch’s clinic as a business opportunity and in October invested $4,000.

Bosch told him the money would help the clinic get through a “slight cash-flow issue,” Fischer recalled. Bosch said finances were tight because “a lot of ballplayers were on hold because of the Melky thing” — a reference to baseball’s suspension last summer of Melky Cabrera, then an outfielder with the San Francisco Giants. Cabrera was suspended for 50 games last year after testing positive for an elevated level of testosterone.

As part of the $4,000 deal, Fischer joined Biogenesis as the marketing director and was given keys and alarm codes — “full access to the facilities.”

The partnership of Bosch and Fischer soured almost as soon as it began. Bosch rarely went to work and failed to pay employees, Fischer said. The clinic’s rent payments were late, and Bosch had stopped paying Fischer the money he owed him.

At one point, when Bosch could not be found and had stopped returning calls, another clinic employee said Bosch had gone to the American League Championship Series “to collect money.” [...]

On Oct. 30, Fischer went to the office after hours and took a stack of boxes filled with Bosch’s files.