On March 10 three years ago Angel Heredia was feeling at one with the world as he returned to his room on the campus of Texas A&M University in the small south Texas town of Kingsville. He had been for a workout and didn’t think twice about the two campus police officers standing not far from the entrance to his room. Maybe a break-in, he thought.

Chatting briefly with the officers, he walked on to his room. Inside there were two men, neither of whom he had met before, but that didn’t matter. He knew them. The uncommonly tall white one with the bald head was Jeff Novitsky, an investigator with the criminal section of the Inland Revenue Service (IRS); his African-American colleague was Erwin Rogers. If you were involved in elite-level athletics in the US in 2005, chances were you knew these gentlemen.

“You’re Angel,” said Rogers. “You’re Erwin,” replied Heredia. The pleasantries soon passed. “What’s your relationship with Trevor Graham?” asked Novitsky, in a manner that suggested he knew the answer and didn’t like it.