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Victor Conte, who devised a plan to provide undetectable performance-enhancing drugs to top competitors including baseball icons Giambi and Bonds and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, has passed away. His age was 75.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

A national investigation into another company Conte founded, the Bay Area lab, led to the guilty verdicts of Jones, top track cyclist Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Stubblefield, in addition to coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte's Admissions and Sentencing

Conte, who served four months in a federal facility for illegal drug sales, discussed frankly about his high-profile athletes. He appeared on broadcast media to assert he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Jones self-administer with HGH, but always refrained from implicating Barry Bonds, the baseball star.

Sport's Official Review

The federal case inspired the publication titled Game of Shadows. Shortly after the book's publication in that year, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig brought on former senate majority leader George Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

Conte stated he sold steroids called two specific substances and advised on their use to many elite athletes, like Jason Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Using banned drugs represents a major risk to the integrity of the competition,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Widespread use by athletes of these drugs puts at a disadvantage the those who refuse to cheat who avoid them and raises questions about the validity of sporting achievements.”

The report noted the issues didn’t develop overnight. The report emphasized everyone involved in baseball in the previous twenty years – including commissioners, club officials, the players’ association and players – bore partial blame for what he termed the doping period.

Case Inception

The official probe into Balco began with a tax agent examining the corporate garbage. Conte ultimately admitted guilt to a pair of the multiple accusations he faced in the mid-2000s ahead of a court case. Six of the 11 convicted people were caught lying to the court.

Associated Convictions

His fitness instructor Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges linked to his Balco connections. He received a sentence to three months in prison and the same duration of home confinement.

Bonds' Legal Battles

The home run king was indicted for lying to a grand jury about using performance-enhancing drugs and stood trial in that year. Prosecutors dropped the charges down the line when the government decided not to challenge an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the supreme court.

A seven-time National League MVP and star performer, Bonds concluded his playing days after the 2007 campaign with 762 home runs, breaking the milestone of that number that Aaron achieved from his career. The athlete refuted knowingly using PEDs but has failed to gain entry to the sport's hall of honor.

Later Years

The former convict remarked to the press in a past conversation that “yes, athletes cheat to succeed, but the government agents and prosecutors cheat to win, too.” He doubted whether the outcomes in such proceedings merited the work.

Post-incarceration, Conte returned to work in that year by rebooting a health products venture he had started previously called his supplements brand. He set up shop in the same building that was home to his former lab in Burlingame.

Unapologetic Views

Conte stayed unrepentant about his central role in distributing designer steroids to professional competitors. He argued he simply helped “balance the odds” in a arena teeming with rule-breakers.

Expert Opinions

To an expert, a former participant of the World Anti-Doping Agency, he may as well have been distributing illegal narcotics. “This involves unlawful substance distribution. You are talking about substance use in breach of national statutes,” Wadler said in 2007. “This is not philanthropy and this is not some do-gooding. It's illegal sales.”