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Victor Conte, who masterminded a system to distribute hard-to-detect banned substances to professional athletes including baseball greats Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and track and field star Jones years back, has passed away. He was 75.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

An official investigation into a separate firm established by Conte, the Bay Area lab, culminated in the guilty verdicts of Marion Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Stubblefield, as well as trainers, suppliers, chemists, attorneys, and coaches.

Conte's Admissions and Legal Consequences

The Balco founder, who completed four months in a federal facility for illegal drug sales, talked publicly about his high-profile athletes. He went on TV to claim he had seen triple Olympic champion Marion Jones use a syringe with human growth hormones, but consistently avoided pointing the finger at Barry Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Sport's Official Review

The investigation inspired the publication titled Game of Shadows. Shortly after the book's publication in the mid-2000s, MLB commissioner Selig hired former senate majority leader Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

He revealed he provided steroids referred to as two specific substances and coached on their use to many top performers, such as Jason Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, according to the report.

Using performance-enhancing substances represents a major risk to the honesty of the sport,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Broad usage by players of these compounds puts at a disadvantage the honest athletes who avoid them and creates doubts about the validity of historical stats.”

The report noted the problems were not sudden. Mitchell claimed all parties in baseball in the preceding decades – encompassing commissioners, management, the union and players – shared some responsibility for what he termed the PED epoch.

How It Began

The government's case into the company began with a tax agent searching the corporate garbage. The defendant eventually confessed to a pair of the numerous counts filed against him in 2005 prior to court proceedings. Several of the individuals found guilty were caught deceiving the court.

Associated Convictions

Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, confessed to drug dealing counts arising from his Balco connections. He received a sentence to three months in prison and an equal period of house arrest.

His Court Proceedings

Bonds was accused of deceiving a federal jury about obtaining banned substances and faced a trial in the early 2010s. The case was dismissed his case down the line when the prosecutors opted not to appeal an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the federal apex court.

A multiple MVP winner and frequent All-Star, he ended his career after the that season with a record home run tally, exceeding the record of 755 that Hank Aaron set from the 1950s to 1970s. He claimed he did not consciously consuming performance-enhancing drugs but has never been elected to the Hall of Fame.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

The former convict told the Associated Press in a 2010 interview that “yes, athletes cheat to win, but the government agents and prosecutors also bend the rules.” He wondered whether the conclusions in such proceedings were worth the resources.

Following his prison term, Conte resumed operations in that year by reviving a nutritional supplements business he had started years before called SNAC System. He operated in the identical location that was home to the original company in Burlingame, California.

Unapologetic Views

He continued to justify about his key part in doling out designer steroids to elite athletes. He claimed he simply helped “balance the odds” in a arena already rife with rule-breakers.

Expert Opinions

To an expert, a then-member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Conte may as well have been pushing hard drugs. “You are talking about blatant drug dealing. It's about substance use in defiance of legal codes,” Wadler said in the past. “It's not a good deed and this is not some do-gooding. It's trafficking.”