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Victor Conte, who masterminded a plan to distribute stealthy PEDs to professional athletes including MLB legends Giambi and Bonds and sprinting gold medalist Jones years back, is deceased. His age was 75.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

A national probe of another company set up by him, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), resulted in the criminal findings of Marion Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Dana Stubblefield, as well as trainers, suppliers, chemists, attorneys, and coaches.

Public Statements and Sentencing

Conte, who completed a third of a year in a federal facility for steroid distribution, talked publicly about his high-profile athletes. He went on TV to assert he had seen triple Olympic champion Jones self-administer with growth hormones, but always refrained from implicating Bonds, the baseball star.

The Mitchell Report

This probe inspired the publication titled Game of Shadows. A week after the publication date in the mid-2000s, MLB commissioner Bud Selig hired former senate majority leader George Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

Conte stated he distributed steroids referred to as two specific substances and coached on their use to numerous top performers, such as Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Using PEDs represents a major risk to the fairness of the sport,” the findings emphasized. “Broad usage by athletes of such substances unfairly disadvantages the those who refuse to cheat who avoid them and raises questions about the accuracy of sporting achievements.”

The report noted the issues were not sudden. Mitchell claimed all parties in baseball in the previous twenty years – including commissioners, team executives, the players’ association and players – bore partial blame for what he termed “the steroids era”.

How It Began

The official probe into the company began with a tax agent digging through the company’s trash. Conte eventually confessed to two of the numerous counts against him in the mid-2000s prior to court proceedings. Half a dozen of the 11 convicted people were convicted for lying to federal investigators.

Further Legal Actions

Bonds’ personal trainer Anderson, pleaded guilty to drug dealing counts linked to his ties to the lab. The court gave him to 90 days in jail and the same duration of restricted movement.

The Slugger's Case

Bonds was accused of lying to a grand jury about obtaining banned substances and stood trial in that year. Prosecutors dropped his case down the line when the authorities chose not to contest an reversed conviction to the federal apex court.

A multiple MVP winner and frequent All-Star, he retired after the that season with a record home run tally, surpassing the milestone of Aaron's total that Hank Aaron achieved from 1954-76. The athlete refuted knowingly using PEDs but has failed to gain entry to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Later Years

The former convict stated in an interview in a 2010 interview that “yes, athletes cheat to succeed, but the officials and lawyers engage in misconduct as well.” He doubted whether the results in such legal cases justified the effort.

Post-incarceration, Conte returned to work in that year by rebooting a supplements company he had founded years before called SNAC System. He located it in the very same place that was home to his former lab in Burlingame.

Continued Justification

He stayed unrepentant about his major involvement in doling out custom PEDs to top sports stars. He argued he simply helped “balance the odds” in a arena teeming with cheaters.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a at the time a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, he could be compared to selling hard drugs. “It concerns blatant drug dealing. You are talking about substance use in breach of national statutes,” the doctor remarked in the past. “This isn't charity and this is not some do-gooding. It's illegal sales.”