The watchdog is said to believe the executive pair were party to "privileged information" surrounding the issue of the bonds.

BBC: NEWS | Business | Watchdog probes Vivendi bond sale

The latest charges about Barry Bonds' doping come in a book called Game of Shadows by a pair of San Francisco Chronicle reporters.

NPR: Book Accuses Bonds of Using Performance Drugs

Levine and Sheil make a plausibly edgy, cultured pair (his opening riffs on Philip Roth are as smart as they are crisply declaimed) whose bonds are facing their first serious strain, which is captured in understatedly contentious dialogue and nuanced glances.

NEWYORKER: Green

These profits have been dependable enough that the pair have been able to do almost all their buying with borrowed money, a mix of bank debt and junk bonds totaling just less than revenues.

FORBES: Encirclement