Ford’s ‘trainer’ sold steroids
He hastily backpedals over ‘joke picture’
TORONTO — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford embarked on a personal transformation after his political routing by hitting a Toronto gym Tuesday night, weighing in at 336 pounds, then quickly working up a sweat on the treadmill.
The embattled mayor is ready for change, said Valerio Moscariello, a body builder who gave him a workout and consultation.
“He doesn’t eat what he should,” Moscariello told the National Post. “If Rob eats proper food, he will change.
“Things happen for a reason,” he went on. “Maybe this happened to give him time to take care of himself. He can change.”
Moscariello knows something about second chances.
He was convicted in the U.S. for steroid trafficking and is in the midst of a 12-year ban from sports coaching in Canada for administering steroids.
After speaking enthusiastically about Ford’s plans with the Post Wednesday morning and sending out a photo of him and Ford together in the gym, he faced a flurry of calls and followup questions about his past. Moscariello then changed his story and his social media accounts were deleted.
“It was a joke picture and has been blown up for no reason. I do wish him luck. I should not have posted a joke picture like that, I didn’t realize what this caused. I’m sorry,” he said in an email.
It is uncertain which version is most accurate.
Moscariello is an owner of Team Body Pro Athletics and promotes the bodybuilding supplement company, Mutant Nation. Ford’s driver, Jerry Agyemang, hired this month, is also a bodybuilder involved with Mutant Nation, having won its “Mutant of the Month” bodybuilding competition in October 2011.
Moscariello said he has known Ford for years and the mayor’s niece, Krista, daughter of councillor Doug Ford, referred to him as a friend in 2011 on Facebook.
Ford has said he is working with a team of health professionals after he admitted smoking crack cocaine while in one of his “drunken stupors.” He has not detailed the help, other than it would not be traditional intervention and includes advice on his weight.
Ford’s lawyer, Dennis Morris, has said he is spending up to two hours a day exercising, has improved his diet and received support from a medical doctor.
The Toronto mayor’s weight has been lampooned around the world during his scandals.
Moscariello declined to directly answer any questions about the conviction and ban.
He pleaded guilty in the U.S. to possession with the intent to distribute anabolic steroids in 2005, according to U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada. He admitted to unlawfully possessing 270 cc’s of anabolic steroids and to operating a website for the purpose of distributing steroids to the public. He was sentenced to five months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.
In 2010, he was banned for 12 years from Canadian sport for administering steroids to national-level boxer Amanda Galle of Mississauga, Ont.
“This prevents him from coaching, training or competing and restricts competitive athletes from associating with him as a coach or trainer,” the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport said in a release.
Meanwhile, Toronto’s financial mandarins are preparing a budget proposal that almost certainly will not meet Ford’s vow to hold next year’s property tax increase at 1.75 per cent, his budget chief says.