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Victor Conte, who masterminded a system to distribute hard-to-detect PEDs to professional athletes including MLB legends Giambi and Bonds and sprinting gold medalist Marion Jones decades ago, has passed away. His age was 75.

Official Inquiry and Criminal Cases

The federal government's investigation into a separate firm Conte founded, the Bay Area lab, led to the guilty verdicts of Marion Jones, elite sprint cyclist Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Stubblefield, as well as trainers, suppliers, chemists, attorneys, and coaches.

Public Statements and Prison Time

The Balco founder, who completed four months in federal prison for dealing steroids, spoke openly about his famous former clients. He was featured on television to claim he had witnessed decorated Olympian Marion Jones inject herself with human growth hormones, but always refrained from implicating Barry Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Sport's Official Review

The federal case led to the volume Game of Shadows. Shortly after the book's publication in 2006, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig appointed political figure George Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

He revealed he provided steroids referred to as two specific substances and guided their usage to many top performers, such as Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, according to the report.

Using performance-enhancing substances represents a major risk to the integrity of the sport,” the findings emphasized. “Prevalent consumption by players of these drugs puts at a disadvantage the honest athletes who avoid them and creates doubts about the validity of sporting achievements.”

The report noted the issues were not sudden. The report emphasized all parties in professional baseball in the preceding decades – encompassing commissioners, club officials, the representative body and athletes themselves – bore partial blame for what he labeled the PED epoch.

How It Began

The official probe into the company began with a IRS investigator digging through the company’s trash. He ended up pleading guilty to a pair of the 42 charges against him in the mid-2000s before a trial. Half a dozen of the defendants sentenced were caught deceiving grand jurors.

Further Legal Actions

His fitness instructor Anderson, admitted guilt to illegal substance sales arising from his involvement with Balco. He received a sentence to three months in prison and three months of house arrest.

His Court Proceedings

Bonds was indicted for lying to a federal jury about using banned substances and faced a trial in that year. The case was dismissed his case down the line when the prosecutors opted not to contest an overturned ruling to the federal apex court.

A multiple MVP winner and 14-time All-Star outfielder, he retired after the 2007 season with 762 homers, surpassing the mark of 755 that Aaron established from 1954-76. He claimed he did not consciously consuming banned substances but has never been elected to the sport's hall of honor.

Later Years

He remarked to the press in a 2010 interview that “yes, athletes cheat to succeed, but the federal representatives cheat to win, too.” He wondered whether the conclusions in such proceedings were worth the resources.

After serving his sentence, Conte returned to work in that year by reviving a nutritional supplements business he had founded years before called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He located it in the same building that was home to his former lab in Burlingame.

Defiant Stance

The controversial figure continued to justify about his central role in providing designer steroids to top sports stars. He claimed he simply helped “level the playing field” in a arena already rife with doping athletes.

Critical Perspectives

To a WADA member, a former participant of the global anti-doping body, Conte could be compared to distributing cocaine or heroin. “It concerns unlawful substance distribution. It's about substance use in defiance of legal codes,” Wadler said in the past. “This is not philanthropy and not a benevolent act. This is drug dealing.”