Baseball: Yankee great charged over drug 'lies'

Baseball great Roger Clemens, one of the best pitchers in the sport's history, was indicted yesterday on a series of charges related to lying to the US Congress about using performance-enhancing drugs.

Clemens, 48 and now living in Houston, was charged with one count of obstruction of Congress, three counts of making false statements and two counts of perjury, according to the indictment filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia.

If convicted on all charges, he could face up to 30 years in prison and a $1.5m (£960,000) fine. However, federal sentencing guidelines suggest a penalty of 15 to 21 months if convicted.

A lawyer for Clemens, Rusty Hardin, was not immediately available for comment.

The charges stemmed from testimony Clemens and his former trainer gave under oath two years ago to a House of Representatives panel, contradicting each other on whether Clemens had used banned substances.

Clemens told staff for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in February 2008 that he had never used steroids or human growth hormones and repeated those statements during a subsequent committee hearing.

Clemens enjoyed a 24-year career playing for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays, but has since faced repeated questions about using performance-enhancing drugs.