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Victor Conte, who engineered a plan to distribute stealthy performance-enhancing drugs to elite sports stars such as MLB legends Giambi and Bonds and track and field star Marion Jones in the past, has passed away. His age was 75.

Federal Investigation and Convictions

A national probe of an additional venture Conte founded, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), led to the guilty verdicts of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Thomas, and retired NFL player Stubblefield, as well as coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Public Statements and Sentencing

Conte, who served several months in a federal facility for steroid distribution, spoke openly about his well-known clients. He appeared on television to claim he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Marion Jones self-administer with growth hormones, but consistently avoided pointing the finger at Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Baseball's Investigation

The federal case inspired the book Game of Shadows. A week after the book's publication in 2006, the sport's chief Bud Selig hired ex-senator Mitchell to look into PED use.

Conte stated he provided steroids referred to as “the cream” and “the clear” and advised on their use 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 Mitchell report concluded. “Prevalent consumption by competitors of these compounds unfairly disadvantages the honest athletes who refuse to use them and raises questions about the accuracy of sporting achievements.”

It was stated the problems didn’t develop overnight. He said each participant in the sport in the previous twenty years – covering commissioners, management, the union and athletes themselves – bore partial blame for what he called “the steroids era”.

How It Began

The official probe into the laboratory began with a IRS investigator searching the business refuse. He eventually confessed to two of the numerous counts filed against him in 2005 before a trial. Six of the 11 convicted people were ensnared for deceiving federal investigators.

Further Legal Actions

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, admitted guilt to drug dealing counts arising from his ties to the lab. Anderson was sentenced to 90 days in prison and three months of home confinement.

His Court Proceedings

The baseball legend was charged with deceiving a federal jury about using performance-enhancing drugs and faced a trial in that year. The government abandoned the charges down the line when the government decided not to challenge an reversed conviction to the highest court.

A multiple MVP winner and star performer, Bonds ended his career after the 2007 season with a record home run tally, breaking the milestone of Aaron's total that Aaron set from 1954-76. The athlete refuted knowingly using PEDs but has never been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

The former convict stated in an interview in a 2010 interview that “competitors do cheat to succeed, but the federal representatives also bend the rules.” He wondered whether the conclusions in these trials justified the effort.

After serving his sentence, Conte returned to work in 2007 by rebooting a supplements company he had founded two decades earlier called his supplements brand. He operated in the very same place that once housed the original company in Burlingame.

Unapologetic Views

Conte continued to justify about his central role in providing tailored drugs to professional competitors. He claimed he simply helped “level the playing field” in a arena already rife with rule-breakers.

Outside Views

To Dr Gary Wadler, a then-member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, he may as well have been selling cocaine or heroin. “This involves unlawful substance distribution. It's about drug consumption in violation of federal law,” he stated in that period. “It's not a good deed and it's not altruistic. It's illegal sales.”