The AFL anti-doping tribunal has found Stephen Dank guilty on several charges, however he has been cleared on three charges relating to banned substance Thymosin Beta 4.
The tribunal was not comfortably satisfied that Dank had administered or attempted to administer Thymosin Beta 4 to various Essendon players, nor that he had assisted, encouraged, aided, abetted or covered up administration of the peptide.
This follows the tribunal's decision last month to clear the 34 current and former Essendon players of taking the banned substance on the basis that there was insufficient evidence.
Dank, the sports scientist at the centre of the 16-month long investigation into Essendon's supplements program during the 2012 season has maintained that he never gave the players Thymosin Beta 4, despite telling Fairfax Media in an interview two years ago that he had supplied the drug.
Dank later contacted Fairfax Media to clarify that he had given the players Thymosin Alpha, also known as Thymomodulin, which is not banned.
The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority has until Tuesday to appeal the decision handed down in favour of the 34 players. Once that time has elapsed, the World Anti-Doping Authority has a further three weeks to challenge the verdict.
More to come