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Victor Conte, who masterminded a plan to supply undetectable PEDs to professional athletes featuring baseball greats Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and track and field star Marion Jones decades ago, has passed away. He was 75.

Government Probe and Convictions

A national probe of another company established by Conte, the Bay Area lab, led to the convictions of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Stubblefield, as well as coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Public Statements and Prison Time

The Balco founder, who completed several months in federal prison for illegal drug sales, discussed frankly about his high-profile athletes. He was featured on TV to assert he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Marion Jones use a syringe with growth hormones, but always refrained from implicating Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Sport's Official Review

The federal case led to the volume Game of Shadows. Just days following the book's publication in the mid-2000s, MLB commissioner Bud Selig brought on former senate majority leader Mitchell to investigate steroids.

He revealed he distributed steroids known as “the cream” and “the clear” and advised on their usage to dozens of top performers, such as Giambi, a star player, according to the report.

Employing PEDs is a significant danger to the integrity of the game,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Prevalent consumption by competitors of these compounds harms the clean players who decline to take them and creates doubts about the legitimacy of sporting achievements.”

Mitchell indicated the challenges took time to emerge. Mitchell claimed each participant in the sport in the prior two decades – including leaders, management, the players’ association and athletes themselves – bore partial blame for what he labeled the doping period.

How It Began

The official probe into the laboratory was initiated by a IRS investigator examining the business refuse. The defendant ultimately admitted guilt to a couple of the numerous counts against him in the mid-2000s ahead of a court case. Six of the 11 convicted people were ensnared for deceiving federal investigators.

Related Cases

His fitness instructor Anderson, pleaded guilty to illegal substance sales stemming from his Balco connections. Anderson was sentenced to a quarter year in incarceration and an equal period of house arrest.

Bonds' Legal Battles

The baseball legend was accused of lying to a grand jury about obtaining PEDs and stood trial in that year. The government abandoned the charges down the line when the authorities chose not to challenge an reversed conviction to the federal apex court.

A multiple MVP winner and star performer, he concluded his playing days after the 2007 season with 762 home runs, surpassing the record of 755 that Hank Aaron set from 1954-76. The athlete refuted knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs but has failed to gain entry to the sport's hall of honor.

Later Years

Conte remarked to the press in a 2010 interview that “competitors do cheat to win, but the federal representatives engage in misconduct as well.” He wondered whether the conclusions in these trials were worth the resources.

Post-incarceration, Conte returned to work in that year by reviving a nutritional supplements business he had founded years before called his supplements brand. He located it in the same building that was home to Balco in Burlingame, California.

Unapologetic Views

He continued to justify about his key part in providing custom PEDs to top sports stars. He claimed he simply helped “even the competition” in a sports environment already rife with doping athletes.

Expert Opinions

To an expert, a former participant of the global anti-doping body, Conte may as well have been selling cocaine or heroin. “You are talking about blatant drug dealing. It's about using drugs in breach of national statutes,” he stated in the past. “This is not philanthropy and not a benevolent act. It's illegal sales.”