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Victor Conte, who masterminded a system to distribute hard-to-detect performance-enhancing drugs to top competitors such as baseball greats Giambi and Bonds and track and field star Marion Jones in the past, has died. He was 75.

Federal Investigation and Convictions

A national probe of another company set up by him, the Bay Area lab, culminated in the convictions of Jones, competitive biker Tammy Thomas, and retired NFL player Dana Stubblefield, in addition to coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte's Admissions and Legal Consequences

He, who served four months in federal prison for dealing steroids, spoke openly about his famous former clients. He appeared on TV to claim he had witnessed decorated Olympian Jones inject herself with growth hormones, but never directly incriminating Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Sport's Official Review

The investigation led to the volume titled Game of Shadows. Just days following the book's publication in that year, baseball Commissioner Selig hired ex-senator Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

Conte stated he distributed steroids called certain undetectable drugs and guided their use to numerous top performers, like Jason Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Using PEDs poses a serious threat to the integrity of the competition,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Broad usage by athletes of such substances harms the those who refuse to cheat who decline to take them and creates doubts about the validity of historical stats.”

It was stated the challenges were not sudden. He said all parties in professional baseball in the preceding decades – including leaders, team executives, the representative body and athletes themselves – shared some responsibility for what he labeled “the steroids era”.

Case Inception

The official probe into the laboratory started when a IRS investigator digging through the company’s trash. Conte ended up pleading guilty to a couple of the numerous counts filed against him in 2005 before a trial. Six of the 11 convicted people were ensnared for deceiving grand jurors.

Further Legal Actions

Bonds’ personal trainer Anderson, confessed to illegal substance sales arising from his Balco connections. He received a sentence to three months in incarceration and an equal period of restricted movement.

Bonds' Legal Battles

Bonds was charged with deceiving a investigative body about receiving banned substances and stood trial in that year. The government abandoned the case after several years when the prosecutors opted not to challenge an reversed conviction to the federal apex court.

A decorated player and star performer, Bonds ended his career after the that season with 762 home runs, exceeding the record of Aaron's total that Aaron set from the 1950s to 1970s. Bonds denied consciously consuming banned substances but has never been elected to the sport's hall of honor.

Later Years

The former convict stated in an interview in a 2010 discussion that “yes, athletes cheat to succeed, but the government agents and prosecutors cheat to win, too.” He also questioned whether the results in such proceedings were worth the resources.

Post-incarceration, Conte returned to work in the late 2000s by resuscitating a nutritional supplements business he had founded two decades earlier called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He set up shop in the very same place that previously contained the original company in the California city.

Continued Justification

The controversial figure remained defiant about his central role in doling out designer steroids to professional competitors. He argued he simply helped “level the playing field” in a sports environment full of cheaters.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a former participant of the WADA, Conte may as well have been distributing hard drugs. “This involves blatant drug dealing. This refers to substance use in defiance of legal codes,” the doctor remarked in 2007. “This is not philanthropy and this is not some do-gooding. It's illegal sales.”