As a result of Netflix documentary Icarus, Russian doping whistleblower Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov has become a figure of major interest in the fight to prevent doping in sport.
That, of course, has had consequences for the ex-director of Russia's national anti-doping lab.
On OTB AM this morning, we were joined by his lawyer Jim Walden to lift the lid on those consequences in a week when Rodchenkov is serving as a witness via conference call at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the case of 39 Russian athletes who were stripped of their medals from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
You can listen to the full interview on the podcast player:
Walden discussed why Rodchenkov initially fled to the United States.
"Dr Rodchenkov came here because a friend of his from the Kremlin told him that FSB agents were coming to stage Dr Rodchenkov's suicide - that they were going to murder him," he told Adrian and Eoin.
"And that's because the World Anti-Doping Agency had begun an investigation after a German documentary came out about state-sponsored doping in Russia. The FSB wanted to basically blame him and as a mechanism to blame him, they wanted to first permanently silence him."
Rodchenkov in the Icarus documentary
In late December 2017, reports emerged that Dr Rodchenkov was facing drug trafficking charges in Russia.
For Walden, he has his suspicions as to why these charges suddenly emerged: "I don't believe in coincidences so how the Russians found out, I don't know, but it seems to me to be naive to think lucky timing on their part.
"Russia is a determined adversary. At the end of the day, I don't think their flimsy, politically-motivated charges are going to change anything for Dr Rodchenkov. He's the most important whistleblower in the history of sport."
He also believes that if Rodchenkov was to be expelled from the United States to return to Russia, "he would be dead or worse".
You can watch back today's OTB AM on YouTube:
