The United States Anti-Doping Agency rarely issues public statements celebrating criminal prison sentences, but the organization recently made a massive exception following a landmark federal ruling involving a doping scheme built around two-time world championship silver medalist Marvin Bracy-Williams. The agency utilized this specific ruling to highlight the massive power of a recently enacted federal statute.
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USADA CEO Travis Tygart publicly praised the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (RADA) instituted in 2020. The federal legislation led directly to a major victory for the organization when a federal judge formally sentenced supplier Paul Askew to prison. Tygart explicitly outlined the historical significance of this specific legal outcome in an official agency statement.
“Last week’s sentencing of Paul Askew marks an important moment for clean athletes and shows the value of treating doping schemes as the serious fraud that they are under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (RADA),” Tygart wrote in a statement.
“Askew received a sentence of six months in federal prison, and he will complete that time after serving his state sentence on separate fraud-related charges. Earlier this year, after an investigation by USADA and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Askew pleaded guilty to conspiracy to influence major international sports competitions by doping a professional track and field athlete with testosterone, a banned and powerful performance-enhancing substance.”
The court sentenced the 46-year-old to ten years in jail and an additional six months in federal prison. That will only be after he’s finished serving his state sentence. Askew is charged with providing banned substances to an athlete. As per ESPN, the athlete in question is Marvin Bracy-Williams, who was handed a 45-month doping ban in 2025.
The former two-time world championship silver medalist and Olympian reportedly agreed to the sentence after a joint investigation by the DEA and USADA. That was after the then-31-year-old simply vanished from sprinting in 2023. However, a whistleblower reportedly brought a case against the sprinter to the USADA after which he tested positive for a banned substance.
The now 32-year-old did provide “substantial assistance” which led to Askew’s arrest in February 2026 by the DEA and USADA. Not just that, reports indicated that Bracy-Williams was just one athlete that Askew provided banned substances to. As per various reports, Askew supplied testosterone, a prohibited substance that helps enhance performance.
“USADA is extremely grateful to the DEA’s Orlando District Office, the Department of Justice, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida for working to expose Askew’s scheme before it could further defraud clean athletes, fans, and the integrity of sport,” the statement further read.
“This case prevented Askew and the athlete from acting on their intentions to use illegal testosterone injections to improve the athlete’s performance at the 2024 American Indoor Track and Field Championships, the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships, the 2024 United States Olympic Trials, and even the 2024 Summer Olympics.”
The doping case was already a major setback for Marvin Bracy-Williams, but it wasn’t the only legal trouble surrounding the sprinter. In fact, his problems continued away from the track when he was later arrested on a DUI charge.
Marvin Bracy-Williams arrested for a DUI
Once considered to be the fastest American in the land, life hasn’t gone according to plan for Marvin Bracy-Williams. The now 32-year-old disappeared from sprinting in 2023 after winning two silver medals at the 2022 World Championships. It was then revealed in 2025 that the sprinter was under investigation for use of a banned substance after a positive test.
The USADA confirmed the decision, handing down a three-year, nine-month ban for anti-doping violations in November 2025. However, the USADA backdated that ban to February 2024, and Bracy-Williams hit another snag in August 2026. According to TMZ, police charged the 32-year-old with a DUI after pulling his vehicle from a ditch.
According to the news outlet, the former Olympian was allegedly in the driver’s seat of his car, with the vehicle still running and in gear. Furthermore, as per the report, Bracy-Williams allegedly struggled with the police officer’s field sobriety tests. This comes on the back of what has been a tough year for the track and field star.
However, after officials banned him from official competitions, Bracy-Williams joined the Enhanced Games, which permitted the use of performance enhancers. While he finished third in the 100m, the 32-year-old received another ban a few months later. This time it was a 12-month ban for his third anti-doping violation, and he confirmed his decision to retire.
The disgraced sprinter will now navigate his ongoing legal issues as the 2026 athletic calendar officially concludes this September.