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Victor Conte, who devised a plan to supply stealthy banned substances to professional athletes such as baseball icons Giambi and Bonds and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, has died. His age was 75.

Government Probe and Convictions

The federal government's inquiry regarding a separate firm Conte founded, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), led to the guilty verdicts of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Thomas, and retired NFL player Stubblefield, as well as various support personnel and professionals.

Open Discussions and Sentencing

The Balco founder, who completed four months in a federal facility for steroid distribution, talked publicly about his well-known clients. He appeared on broadcast media to claim he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Jones use a syringe with growth hormones, but always refrained from pointing the finger at Bonds, the baseball star.

Sport's Official Review

The federal case led to the book titled Game of Shadows. Shortly after the publication date in 2006, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hired former senate majority leader Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

He revealed he distributed steroids referred to as “the cream” and “the clear” and advised on their use to dozens of professional sportspeople, such as Jason Giambi, a star player, according to the report.

Using PEDs is a significant danger to the honesty of the competition,” the report stated. “Broad usage by competitors of these compounds harms the honest athletes who decline to take them and creates doubts about the accuracy of baseball records.”

Mitchell indicated the challenges were not sudden. He said everyone involved in the sport in the preceding decades – including leaders, management, the union and athletes themselves – bore partial blame for what he called the doping period.

Case Inception

The federal investigation into Balco started when a IRS investigator digging through the business refuse. Conte ultimately admitted guilt to a couple of the multiple accusations he faced in 2005 prior to court proceedings. Several of the defendants sentenced were caught misleading grand jurors.

Further Legal Actions

His fitness instructor Anderson, confessed to illegal substance sales linked to his involvement with Balco. He received a sentence to three months in jail and the same duration of restricted movement.

The Slugger's Case

The home run king was accused of deceiving a grand jury about obtaining PEDs and went on trial in that year. Prosecutors dropped the charges four years later when the prosecutors opted not to challenge an overturned ruling to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, he ended his career after the that season with 762 home runs, surpassing the mark of that number that Hank Aaron achieved from the 1950s to 1970s. The athlete refuted knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs but has never been elected to the Hall of Fame.

Later Years

Conte remarked to the press in a past conversation that “sportspeople break rules to win, but the government agents and prosecutors engage in misconduct as well.” He wondered whether the outcomes in these trials justified the effort.

After serving his sentence, he returned to work in that year by resuscitating a supplements company he had launched years before called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He operated in the very same place that once housed the original company in Burlingame, California.

Unapologetic Views

Conte remained defiant about his major involvement in distributing custom PEDs to professional competitors. He maintained he simply helped “level the playing field” in a arena already rife with doping athletes.

Expert Opinions

To a WADA member, a then-member of the WADA, he could be compared to selling illegal narcotics. “This involves unlawful substance distribution. You are talking about substance use in violation of federal law,” Wadler said in that period. “This is not philanthropy and this is not some do-gooding. This is drug dealing.”