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Victor Conte, who devised a system to distribute stealthy PEDs to professional athletes such as baseball greats Giambi and Bonds and sprinting gold medalist Marion Jones decades ago, is deceased. He reached 75 years.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

An official investigation into another company Conte founded, Balco, resulted in the criminal findings of Marion Jones, top track cyclist Thomas, and retired NFL player Dana Stubblefield, as well as coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte's Admissions and Sentencing

He, who served four months in federal prison for illegal drug sales, spoke openly about his well-known clients. He appeared on TV to assert he had observed three-time Olympic medalist Jones self-administer with HGH, but never directly implicating Barry Bonds, the baseball star.

Sport's Official Review

This probe resulted in the book Game of Shadows. A week after the release of the book in that year, baseball Commissioner Selig brought on former senate majority leader George Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

He admitted he sold steroids referred to as “the cream” and “the clear” and coached on their use to many elite athletes, including Jason Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

“The illegal use of banned drugs represents a major risk to the fairness of the competition,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Broad usage by competitors of such substances puts at a disadvantage the clean players who refuse to use them and raises questions about the validity of baseball records.”

The report noted the issues were not sudden. Mitchell claimed everyone involved in professional baseball in the prior two decades – including commissioners, club officials, the representative body and players – shared some responsibility for what he termed the doping period.

Investigation Origins

The federal investigation into the laboratory began with a revenue officer digging through the corporate garbage. He eventually confessed to two of the multiple accusations against him in the mid-2000s prior to court proceedings. Half a dozen of the individuals found guilty were convicted for lying to grand jurors.

Further Legal Actions

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, confessed to illegal substance sales linked to his involvement with Balco. He received a sentence to three months in jail and the same duration of restricted movement.

Bonds' Legal Battles

Bonds was accused of deceiving a federal jury about receiving PEDs and went on trial in that year. Prosecutors dropped the case down the line when the authorities chose not to challenge an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the supreme court.

A seven-time National League MVP and star performer, Bonds retired after the 2007 season with 762 home runs, surpassing the milestone of 755 that Hank Aaron achieved from his career. He claimed he did not consciously consuming PEDs but has never been elected to the Hall of Fame.

Later Years

He remarked to the press in a 2010 discussion that “competitors do cheat to triumph, but the government agents and prosecutors engage in misconduct as well.” He doubted whether the conclusions in these trials merited the work.

Post-incarceration, he returned to work in 2007 by reviving a health products venture he had launched years before called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He operated in the same building that previously contained Balco in the California city.

Defiant Stance

The controversial figure continued to justify about his central role in distributing custom PEDs to top sports stars. He maintained he simply helped “balance the odds” in a sports environment already rife with doping athletes.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a former participant of the World Anti-Doping Agency, he may as well have been distributing cocaine or heroin. “It concerns unlawful substance distribution. You are talking about drug consumption in defiance of legal codes,” he stated in that period. “This isn't charity and this is not some do-gooding. It's illegal sales.”