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Victor Conte, who devised a system to supply stealthy banned substances to elite sports stars featuring MLB legends Giambi and Bonds and track and field star Marion Jones decades ago, has passed away. He reached 75 years.

Official Inquiry and Criminal Cases

An official investigation into another company set up by him, the Bay Area lab, culminated in the convictions of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Thomas, and retired NFL player Stubblefield, as well as coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte's Admissions and Prison Time

Conte, who spent a third of a year in a federal facility for illegal drug sales, spoke openly about his well-known clients. He appeared on TV to claim he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Marion Jones self-administer with human growth hormones, but consistently avoided implicating Bonds, the baseball star.

The Mitchell Report

This probe led to the publication Game of Shadows. Just days following the book's publication in the mid-2000s, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hired political figure Mitchell to investigate steroids.

Conte stated he sold steroids known as certain undetectable drugs and advised on their application to dozens of professional sportspeople, including Jason Giambi, a star player, according to the report.

Employing banned drugs represents a major risk to the integrity of the sport,” the report stated. “Broad usage by competitors of such substances puts at a disadvantage the those who refuse to cheat who avoid them and leads to skepticism about the accuracy of sporting achievements.”

Mitchell indicated the issues took time to emerge. The report emphasized all parties in baseball in the prior two decades – including commissioners, management, the players’ association and athletes themselves – bore partial blame for what he termed the PED epoch.

Case Inception

The federal investigation into the laboratory started when a revenue officer digging through the company’s trash. Conte ended up pleading guilty to a couple of the 42 charges filed against him in 2005 prior to court proceedings. Several of the defendants sentenced were convicted for misleading the court.

Related Cases

The athlete's coach Anderson, confessed to drug dealing counts arising from his involvement with Balco. The court gave him to three months in incarceration and three months of restricted movement.

His Court Proceedings

The baseball legend was accused of providing false statements to a federal jury about using banned substances and stood trial in that year. The case was dismissed the charges down the line when the prosecutors opted not to contest an reversed conviction to the federal apex court.

A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, he concluded his playing days after the 2007 campaign with 762 homers, exceeding the record of that number that Hank Aaron established from his career. He claimed he did not intentionally taking PEDs but has failed to gain entry to the Hall of Fame.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

He stated in an interview in a 2010 interview that “yes, athletes cheat to triumph, but the government agents and prosecutors also bend the rules.” He also questioned whether the conclusions in these trials justified the effort.

After serving his sentence, he returned to work in 2007 by reviving a health products venture he had founded two decades earlier called his supplements brand. He located it in the same building that was home to his former lab in the California city.

Unapologetic Views

Conte remained defiant about his key part in doling out designer steroids to elite athletes. He claimed he simply helped “even the competition” in a arena already rife with cheaters.

Outside Views

To an expert, a former participant of the global anti-doping body, Conte could be compared to selling hard drugs. “This involves unlawful substance distribution. It's about substance use in breach of national statutes,” he stated in the past. “This isn't charity and it's not altruistic. This is drug dealing.”