Bonds' legal team prepares for indictment

~ Charges of tax evasion and perjury could be filed next week.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds' legal team is preparing for the Giants slugger to be indicted as soon as next week and has begun plotting his defense.

Attorney Laura Enos told The Associated Press on Friday that Bonds, second on the career home run list, could be charged with tax evasion and perjury. Enos, Bonds' personal attorney, also said the lawyers believe the grand jury investigating the star player will expire next Thursday.

"We are very prepared," Enos said. "We have excellent tax records and we are very comfortable that he has not shortchanged the government at all."

Also Friday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to free Bonds' personal trainer from prison. A federal judge on July 5 ordered Greg Anderson jailed until he agreed to testify before the grand jury investigating Bonds for perjury.

The grand jury is believed to be investigating Bonds for tax evasion in connection with cash he allegedly gave former girlfriend Kimberly Bell to buy a house. The money came from sales of Bonds' signatures on baseball memorabilia, and the income allegedly was not reported to the IRS.

Enos said that claim -- based upon the ex-girlfriend's testimony and the allegations of childhood friend and former business partner Steve Hoskins -- was untrue. Enos said Hoskins gave Bell the cash to curry favor with Bonds and to thank the slugger for helping him become rich by putting him in charge of a lucrative memorabilia business.

Enos said Hoskins also bought Bonds a $350,000 Bentley Rolls Royce, on which Bonds paid $150,000 in gift taxes.

Hoskins recently has surfaced as a key government witness in the investigation of Bonds. He was a boyhood friend who went into business with the baseball star, selling such memorabilia as signed jerseys, bats and baseball cards. The two had a falling out in 2003, which Enos said was over Bonds' accusations that Hoskins forged the slugger's signature on at least two endorsement contracts and also sold Bonds' gear without his permission.

Hoskins' lawyer, Michael Cardoza, did not immediate return a call for comment Friday.

The grand jury also is investigating Bonds for perjury for allegedly telling an earlier grand jury he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

Bell is a key witness on that front and told the grand jury that Bonds said he used performance-enhancing drugs and that he flew into rages she attributed to steroid use, according to testimony obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Enos said Bonds also denies those allegations and will argue that Bell's testimony amounts to "pillow talk."

"It's a he-said, she-said thing," Enos said.

Another potential star witness is Anderson, a childhood friend of Bonds who served three months in prison for steroid distribution. But he has refused to testify to the grand jury investigating Bonds and a federal judge sent him back to prison on July 5 until he changes his mind.

The federal appeals court on Friday declined to release him.

Anderson was Bonds' personal trainer and one of five people convicted in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative scandal. The Burlingame nutritional supplement company was exposed as a steroid laboratory for top athletes.

Bonds hit 12 home runs in the first half of this season to give him 720 for his career, 35 from tying home run king Hank Aaron's record of 755. He passed Babe Ruth and moved into second place on the career list with No. 715 on May 28.

He's batting .249 this season with 38 RBIs, and has missed 20 games with knee problems.

If charged with perjury and convicted, he could face up to five years in prison. He could face another five years if charged and convicted of money laundering.