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Victor Conte, who masterminded a system to distribute hard-to-detect performance-enhancing drugs to top competitors such as baseball greats Giambi and Bonds and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, has died. His age was 75.

Official Inquiry and Convictions

The federal government's probe of another company established by Conte, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), culminated in the guilty verdicts of Marion Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield, as well as coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Public Statements and Legal Consequences

Conte, who served a third of a year in a penitentiary for steroid distribution, talked publicly about his high-profile athletes. He was featured on broadcast media to state he had seen three-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones inject herself with human growth hormones, but always refrained from implicating Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

The Mitchell Report

The federal case resulted in the book titled Game of Shadows. Shortly after the book's publication in the mid-2000s, baseball Commissioner Selig hired political figure Mitchell to look into PED use.

He admitted he sold steroids called two specific substances and guided their use to dozens of elite athletes, such as Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Using PEDs poses a serious threat to the honesty of the competition,” the findings emphasized. “Broad usage by players of such substances puts at a disadvantage the clean players who avoid them and leads to skepticism about the validity of sporting achievements.”

It was stated the challenges were not sudden. The report emphasized all parties in baseball in the preceding decades – covering leaders, club officials, the union and players – bore partial blame for what he called the PED epoch.

How It Began

The official probe into the company began with a tax agent digging through the company’s trash. Conte ended up pleading guilty to two of the numerous counts he faced in the mid-2000s prior to court proceedings. Half a dozen of the individuals found guilty were caught lying to grand jurors.

Further Legal Actions

His fitness instructor Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges arising from his ties to the lab. Anderson was sentenced to a quarter year in incarceration and three months of house arrest.

His Court Proceedings

The home run king was indicted for lying to a investigative body about using PEDs and stood trial in that year. The case was dismissed the charges four years later when the prosecutors opted not to challenge an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds retired after the 2007 campaign with a record home run tally, exceeding the milestone of that number that Hank Aaron achieved from the 1950s to 1970s. Bonds denied knowingly using banned substances but has not been voted to the sport's hall of honor.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

The former convict remarked to the press in a 2010 interview that “yes, athletes cheat to win, but the government agents and prosecutors cheat to win, too.” He also questioned whether the conclusions in these trials justified the effort.

Post-incarceration, he returned to work in 2007 by rebooting a nutritional supplements business he had founded years before called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He set up shop in the identical location that was home to the original company in Burlingame.

Unapologetic Views

He remained defiant about his major involvement in doling out custom PEDs to top sports stars. He maintained he simply helped “level the playing field” in a arena already rife with rule-breakers.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a former participant of the WADA, Conte was essentially distributing cocaine or heroin. “It concerns blatant drug dealing. It's about drug consumption in violation of federal law,” the doctor remarked in 2007. “This isn't charity and it's not altruistic. It's illegal sales.”