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Victor Conte, who engineered a system to provide undetectable banned substances to elite sports stars 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

An official probe of an additional venture Conte founded, Balco, resulted in the convictions of Marion Jones, competitive biker Tammy Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Stubblefield, as well as various support personnel and professionals.

Public Statements and Prison Time

Conte, who served several months in a federal facility for steroid distribution, spoke openly about his high-profile athletes. He was featured on television to claim he had observed triple Olympic champion Jones self-administer with human growth hormones, but always refrained from pointing the finger at Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

Baseball's Investigation

The federal case resulted in the book titled Game of Shadows. Shortly after the release of the book in that year, the sport's chief Bud Selig appointed political figure Mitchell to look into PED use.

He revealed he sold steroids referred to as “the cream” and “the clear” and guided their usage to numerous elite athletes, including Jason Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Using banned drugs represents a major risk to the fairness of the game,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Prevalent consumption by competitors of these drugs puts at a disadvantage the honest athletes who avoid them and raises questions about the legitimacy of baseball records.”

The report noted the problems were not sudden. He said everyone involved in professional baseball in the previous twenty years – encompassing commissioners, management, the players’ association and athletes themselves – were partly accountable for what he called “the steroids era”.

How It Began

The federal investigation into the company was initiated by a revenue officer digging through the corporate garbage. Conte ended up pleading guilty to a couple of the 42 charges against him in 2005 prior to court proceedings. Six of the individuals found guilty were caught misleading grand jurors.

Related Cases

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to drug dealing counts arising from his ties to the lab. He received a sentence to a quarter year in prison and three months of restricted movement.

The Slugger's Case

The home run king was accused of deceiving a grand jury about receiving banned substances and stood trial in the early 2010s. Prosecutors dropped the charges four years later when the prosecutors opted not to challenge an overturned ruling to the federal apex court.

A multiple MVP winner and star performer, he ended his career after the 2007 campaign with a record home run tally, exceeding the mark of 755 that Aaron established from his career. Bonds denied knowingly using banned substances but has not been voted to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

He remarked to the press in a 2010 interview that “yes, athletes cheat to triumph, but the federal representatives engage in misconduct as well.” He doubted whether the conclusions in such proceedings justified the effort.

Following his prison term, he resumed operations in the late 2000s by reviving a supplements company he had started previously called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He set up shop in the same building that previously contained his former lab in the California city.

Defiant Stance

The controversial figure continued to justify about his major involvement in providing custom PEDs to elite athletes. He claimed he simply helped “even the competition” in a world teeming with doping athletes.

Outside Views

To Dr Gary Wadler, a then-member of the WADA, Conte could be compared to distributing cocaine or heroin. “This involves blatant drug dealing. It's about substance use in breach of national statutes,” he stated in 2007. “This isn't charity and this is not some do-gooding. It's trafficking.”