Barry Bonds

Some noteworthy dates in the government's steroids investigation:

Dec. 4, 2003 - Barry Bonds testifies to a federal grand jury that he used a clear substance and a cream given to him by personal trainer Greg Anderson, but didn't know they were steroids, according to transcripts later obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Dec. 11, 2003 - Yankees slugger Jason Giambi tells the grand jury he used steroids for at least three seasons and injected himself with human growth hormone during 2003, according to the transcripts.

Feb. 12, 2004 - Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson; track coach Remi Korchemny; BALCO president Victor Conte; and BALCO vice president James Valente are charged in 42-count federal indictment with running a steroid-distribution ring that provided performance-enhancing drugs to dozens of athletes.

July 15, 2005 - Conte and Anderson plead guilty to steroid distribution and money laundering, and Valente pleads guilty to one count of distributing illegal steroids.

July 29, 2005 - Korchemny pleads guilty to one misdemeanor count of doling out the sleep-disorder drug modafinil.

Oct. 18, 2005 - Conte is sentenced to four months in prison and four months' home confinement; Anderson sentenced to three months in prison and three months in home confinement; Valente sentenced to probation.

Feb. 7, 2006 - Conte settles a $25 million defamation lawsuit brought by track star Marion Jones over allegations that she used banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Feb. 25, 2006 - Korchemny is sentenced to a year of probation after a federal judge says she was moved by stories of his tireless coaching of track athletes.

March 7, 2006 - "Game of Shadows," a book by Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, says Barry Bonds used a vast array of performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids and human growth hormone, for at least five seasons beginning in 1998.

March 30, 2006 - Conte is released from prison and insists he never gave performance-enhancing drugs to Barry Bonds and that "Game of Shadows" is "full of outright lies."

April 14, 2006 - Sources say a federal grand jury is investigating whether Bonds committed perjury when he testified in 2003 that he never knowingly used steroids.

April 27, 2006 - Patrick Arnold, a noted scientist in the field of sports nutritional supplements, pleads guilty to supplying BALCO with the performance-enhancing drug known as "the clear."

May 6, 2006 - Fainaru-Wada and Williams are called to testify before a federal grand jury investigating who leaked them the secret testimony of Bonds, Giambi and others. They fight the subpoenas.

June 6, 2006 - Federal investigators raid the home of Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Jason Grimsley in Scottsdale, Ariz., as part of their steroids investigation.

July 5, 2006 - Anderson found in contempt of court and ordered back to prison after refusing to testify before the federal grand jury investigating Bonds for perjury.

Sept. 21, 2006 - Fainaru-Wada and Williams are ordered jailed for up to 18 months for refusing to comply with a subpoena ordering them to disclose their source. Jailing is stayed pending appeal.

Nov. 1, 2006 - Trevor Graham, the elite track coach who trained Justin Gatlin, Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, is charged with hindering the federal steroids probe he helped launch three years ago when he mailed a vial of a designer drug to anti-doping agents.

Dec. 14, 2006 - Former cyclist Tammy Thomas is indicted on charges of hindering the government's steroids probe.

Feb. 15, 2007 - Colorado attorney Troy Ellerman, who once represented Conte and Valente, pleads guilty to being the Chronicle's source and faces up to two years in prison. The government withdraws its subpoenas of Fainaru-Wada and Williams.

Source: AP