A couple days before it was announced that he was pleading guilty to money laundering charges, Chael Sonnen appeared on ESPN's MMA Live. Amidst various trash-talking, he was challenged on his claim that Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer approved what Sonnen claims was therapeutic use of testosterone for the treatment of hypogonadism and told him never to speak of it again.
As we noted a month ago right after Sonnen's hearing with the California State Athletic Commission where he first made the claim, Kizer says this is completely false. Not only does Kizer say that he's never discussed testosterone replacement therapy with Sonnen, he said that "I have never talked to Chael Sonnen in my life." He also added that with regards to Sonnen getting re-licensed in Nevada (since they recognize other commissions' suspensions) "if Mr. Sonnen wants to get a license here in Nevada, it's probably best if he appears before our commission as opposed to me giving him one administratively."
Sonnen claimed that Kizer was lying, but that this was a-okay. He was just doing what he had to do since he was bound by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to not say anything about what he knew about Sonnen's private medical records in his capacity as a government official. Among other things, HIPAA established new privacy guidelines for Protected Health Information (PHI) in the US. PHI is information held by a "covered entity" having to do with an individual's health care or health status that can be linked to the individual.
Being pretty sure that athletic commissions are not covered entities (and even without any prior knowledge, it's Chael Sonnen), I emailed Kizer. I think you can guess what he said.
He wrote that "HIPPA [sic] does not apply to the NSAC as we are not a medical provider." He added that "I have never spoken with Mr. Sonnen on any matter. He has informed me that he wants to fly to Las Vegas and explain to me why he thought he had the OK to use TRT in Nevada. Senior Deputy Attorney General David Newton and I are awaiting him proposing a date for such a meeting." With UFC suspending him after cancelling his fight with Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 128 in light of his guilty plea on money laundering charges I expect that it'll be a while before that happens.