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Victor Conte, who masterminded a plan to provide stealthy PEDs to professional athletes including MLB legends Giambi and Bonds and track and field star Jones in the past, has died. He reached 75 years.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

A national investigation into another company Conte founded, the Bay Area lab, culminated in the guilty verdicts of Marion Jones, competitive biker Thomas, and retired NFL player Stubblefield, as well as coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte's Admissions and Prison Time

The Balco founder, who spent several months in a penitentiary for illegal drug sales, talked publicly about his well-known clients. He was featured on TV to claim he had witnessed decorated Olympian Marion Jones use a syringe with growth hormones, but always refrained from pointing the finger at Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Sport's Official Review

This probe led to the book Game of Shadows. Just days following the book's publication in the mid-2000s, baseball Commissioner Selig brought on former senate majority leader George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

He admitted he distributed steroids referred to as certain undetectable drugs and coached on their usage to dozens of top performers, like Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, as per the investigation.

Using banned drugs poses a serious threat to the fairness of the game,” the report stated. “Broad usage by athletes of these compounds harms the honest athletes who refuse to use them and leads to skepticism about the legitimacy of sporting achievements.”

The report noted the issues didn’t develop overnight. Mitchell claimed each participant in the sport in the prior two decades – encompassing leaders, management, the players’ association and players – bore partial blame for what he termed the PED epoch.

Case Inception

The government's case into the company was initiated by a IRS investigator searching the corporate garbage. He eventually confessed to a pair of the 42 charges he faced in that year prior to court proceedings. Several of the defendants sentenced were ensnared for misleading federal investigators.

Further Legal Actions

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges stemming from his ties to the lab. The court gave him to 90 days in incarceration and an equal period of restricted movement.

The Slugger's Case

The home run king was indicted for lying to a federal jury about obtaining banned substances and stood trial in that year. The case was dismissed the case after several years when the government decided not to contest an reversed conviction to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, he concluded his playing days after the 2007 campaign with a record home run tally, surpassing the record of 755 that Aaron set from the 1950s to 1970s. The athlete refuted consciously consuming banned substances but has not been voted to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

After Incarceration

Conte told the Associated Press in a 2010 discussion that “yes, athletes cheat to succeed, but the federal representatives cheat to win, too.” He wondered whether the results in such proceedings were worth the resources.

Post-incarceration, Conte returned to work in 2007 by rebooting a nutritional supplements business he had founded years before called SNAC System. He set up shop in the very same place that was home to the original company in Burlingame.

Unapologetic Views

The controversial figure remained defiant about his central role in doling out tailored drugs to professional competitors. He argued he simply helped “even the competition” in a world full of cheaters.

Outside Views

To Dr Gary Wadler, a then-member of the global anti-doping body, he may as well have been selling illegal narcotics. “You are talking about blatant drug dealing. You are talking about using drugs in breach of national statutes,” the doctor remarked in 2007. “This isn't charity and it's not altruistic. It's illegal sales.”