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Victor Conte, who masterminded a system to provide undetectable banned substances to professional athletes including baseball icons Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and track and field star Marion Jones years back, has died. His age was 75.

Government Probe and Convictions

A national probe of a separate firm Conte founded, the Bay Area lab, culminated in the convictions of Marion Jones, top track cyclist Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Stubblefield, as well as various support personnel and professionals.

Public Statements and Sentencing

He, who served several months in a federal facility for dealing steroids, discussed frankly about his well-known clients. He was featured on broadcast media to state he had seen triple Olympic champion Jones self-administer with growth hormones, but consistently avoided incriminating Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

Baseball's Investigation

The investigation led to the volume Game of Shadows. Shortly after the publication date in 2006, MLB commissioner Bud Selig hired former senate majority leader George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

He admitted he sold steroids known as certain undetectable drugs and advised on their usage to dozens of top performers, including Giambi, a star player, according to the report.

Employing performance-enhancing substances represents a major risk to the honesty of the sport,” the report stated. “Prevalent consumption by players of such substances harms the clean players who refuse to use them and raises questions about the legitimacy of sporting achievements.”

It was stated the challenges took time to emerge. Mitchell claimed each participant in the sport in the preceding decades – covering commissioners, team executives, the players’ association and players – bore partial blame for what he termed the doping period.

Investigation Origins

The official probe into Balco started when a revenue officer examining the business refuse. He ultimately admitted guilt to a pair of the multiple accusations he faced in that year prior to court proceedings. Half a dozen of the 11 convicted people were ensnared for deceiving federal investigators.

Related Cases

His fitness instructor Anderson, pleaded guilty to illegal substance sales linked to his Balco connections. Anderson was sentenced to three months in jail and three months of home confinement.

His Court Proceedings

Bonds was indicted for deceiving a federal jury about using banned substances and stood trial in that year. Prosecutors dropped the case after several years when the authorities chose not to contest an reversed conviction to the federal apex court.

A decorated player and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds ended his career after the 2007 season with 762 home runs, surpassing the record of that number that Hank Aaron established from his career. He claimed he did not consciously consuming PEDs but has not been voted to the Hall of Fame.

After Incarceration

He stated in an interview in a 2010 discussion that “sportspeople break rules to win, but the government agents and prosecutors engage in misconduct as well.” He wondered whether the conclusions in these trials justified the effort.

Post-incarceration, Conte returned to work in 2007 by resuscitating a nutritional supplements business he had started two decades earlier called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He located it in the same building that previously contained Balco in Burlingame.

Continued Justification

The controversial figure remained defiant about his major involvement in distributing designer steroids to elite athletes. He argued he simply helped “even the competition” in a sports environment full of cheaters.

Outside Views

To Dr Gary Wadler, a then-member of the global anti-doping body, Conte was essentially pushing hard drugs. “It concerns unlawful substance distribution. You are talking about using drugs in violation of federal law,” Wadler said in the past. “This isn't charity and this is not some do-gooding. It's illegal sales.”