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Victor Conte, who devised a plan to distribute stealthy banned substances to top competitors including baseball icons Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Jones decades ago, has died. He reached 75 years.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

A national inquiry regarding an additional venture Conte founded, Balco, culminated in the criminal findings of Jones, top track cyclist Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield, in addition to trainers, suppliers, chemists, attorneys, and coaches.

Public Statements and Sentencing

The Balco founder, who served four months in a penitentiary for dealing steroids, discussed frankly about his high-profile athletes. He was featured on television to state he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Marion Jones inject herself with human growth hormones, but always refrained from pointing the finger at Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Sport's Official Review

The investigation resulted in the book Game of Shadows. Shortly after the publication date in that year, MLB commissioner Bud Selig brought on political figure Mitchell to investigate steroids.

He admitted he sold steroids known as certain undetectable drugs and advised on their application to dozens of professional sportspeople, like Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Employing PEDs poses a serious threat to the honesty of the sport,” the findings emphasized. “Prevalent consumption by athletes of these compounds unfairly disadvantages the those who refuse to cheat who avoid them and creates doubts about the legitimacy of historical stats.”

The report noted the challenges took time to emerge. He said everyone involved in the sport in the prior two decades – including commissioners, management, the representative body and players – were partly accountable for what he termed the doping period.

Investigation Origins

The government's case into Balco started when a IRS investigator searching the corporate garbage. Conte ultimately admitted guilt to two of the 42 charges he faced in 2005 prior to court proceedings. Six of the defendants sentenced were caught lying to the court.

Further Legal Actions

The athlete's coach Anderson, admitted guilt to illegal substance sales arising from his involvement with Balco. The court gave him to a quarter year in jail and an equal period of home confinement.

His Court Proceedings

The baseball legend was accused of providing false statements to a federal jury about receiving banned substances and faced a trial in that year. The government abandoned the case after several years when the government decided not to appeal an reversed conviction to the federal apex court.

A seven-time National League MVP and frequent All-Star, he ended his career after the 2007 campaign with a record home run tally, breaking the record of 755 that Aaron established from the 1950s to 1970s. The athlete refuted intentionally taking banned substances but has never been elected to the sport's hall of honor.

After Incarceration

The former convict stated in an interview in a 2010 interview that “sportspeople break rules to win, but the federal representatives cheat to win, too.” He also questioned whether the conclusions in such legal cases merited the work.

Following his prison term, Conte returned to work in 2007 by reviving a health products venture he had founded years before called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He set up shop in the same building that was home to Balco in Burlingame.

Unapologetic Views

He stayed unrepentant about his key part in doling out custom PEDs to professional competitors. He maintained he simply helped “balance the odds” in a world teeming with cheaters.

Expert Opinions

To an expert, a at the time a member of the global anti-doping body, Conte may as well have been distributing cocaine or heroin. “It concerns blatant drug dealing. This refers to drug consumption in defiance of legal codes,” he stated in that period. “It's not a good deed and not a benevolent act. It's trafficking.”