Stephen Dank shooting: Sports connection unlikely as experts point to bikie methods
THE shooting ambush that wounded sports scientist Stephen Dank was not linked to sports doping.
The Sunday Herald Sun understands the shots fired at Dank’s Ascot Vale home were likely to have been motivated by another grievance and may have been the work of bikies.
Police and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority have not been liaising over the case, indicating there is no evidence of a link with Dank’s sports science activities, or any allegations he may have been prepared to make.
Experts on bikie activity said the shooting bore the hallmarks of outlaw motorcycle gang-style intimidation.
Dank’s involvement with peptides and supplements, popular among bikies, elevated that possibility further.
Police have declined to comment on the investigation.
Stephen Dank split with a business partner in Sydney more than a year ago. The man, a director of the online clinic Dank once ran from Bondi, told the Sunday Herald Sun Dank had left the enterprise on good terms.
“Steve is just doing his own thing with a group of people down there (Melbourne). I was obviously concerned about what happened over the weekend; I wish him well,” he said.
He believed Dank remained in the peptide and supplement trade with Melbourne contacts.
Another of Dank’s former businesses, Applied Orthopedic Science Consultancy, was placed in liquidation five years ago with four creditors claiming to be out of pocket $15,000 in total. He is also being sued over a $90,000 loan for an investment in a failed agribusiness venture.
Dank has publicly insisted someone is trying to silence him over sports doping revelations he claims he had planned to make last Saturday.