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Victor Conte, who masterminded a system to provide stealthy performance-enhancing drugs to top competitors including baseball icons Giambi and Bonds and sprinting gold medalist Jones years back, has died. He was 75.

Federal Investigation and Convictions

An official inquiry regarding a separate firm Conte founded, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), led to the guilty verdicts of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Stubblefield, along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Open Discussions and Prison Time

He, who served several months in a federal facility for illegal drug sales, discussed frankly about his famous former clients. He was featured on broadcast media to claim he had seen three-time Olympic medalist Jones self-administer with growth hormones, but consistently avoided pointing the finger at Barry Bonds, the baseball star.

Sport's Official Review

The federal case inspired the publication titled Game of Shadows. Shortly after the release of the book in the mid-2000s, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig appointed ex-senator George Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

He revealed he distributed steroids known as “the cream” and “the clear” and guided their use to dozens of elite athletes, including Jason Giambi, a star player, the Mitchell report said.

Employing banned drugs represents a major risk to the honesty of the game,” the report stated. “Broad usage by players of these drugs unfairly disadvantages the clean players who avoid them and creates doubts about the accuracy of baseball records.”

The report noted the problems were not sudden. The report emphasized everyone involved in baseball in the previous twenty years – including leaders, club officials, the union and players – were partly accountable for what he called the PED epoch.

How It Began

The federal investigation into Balco began with a tax agent digging through the corporate garbage. Conte eventually confessed to two of the multiple accusations against him in 2005 before a trial. Six of the 11 convicted people were ensnared for misleading federal investigators.

Further Legal Actions

Bonds’ personal trainer Anderson, admitted guilt to illegal substance sales arising from his ties to the lab. The court gave him to three months in jail and an equal period of restricted movement.

The Slugger's Case

Bonds was charged with deceiving a grand jury about using PEDs and went on trial in 2011. The case was dismissed the charges four years later when the government decided not to challenge an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the supreme 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, surpassing the milestone of Aaron's total that Hank Aaron achieved from 1954-76. He claimed he did not intentionally taking performance-enhancing drugs but has failed to gain entry to the sport's hall of honor.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

Conte told the Associated Press in a 2010 interview that “yes, athletes cheat to succeed, but the federal representatives also bend the rules.” He doubted whether the outcomes in these trials were worth the resources.

Post-incarceration, Conte got back in business in that year by resuscitating a health products venture he had launched previously called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He located it in the very same place that once housed the original company in Burlingame, California.

Continued Justification

Conte stayed unrepentant about his central role in doling out tailored drugs to top sports stars. He claimed he simply helped “balance the odds” in a arena full of doping athletes.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a at the time a member of the WADA, Conte may as well have been pushing cocaine or heroin. “This involves blatant drug dealing. This refers to substance use in violation of federal law,” the doctor remarked in 2007. “This is not philanthropy and not a benevolent act. It's illegal sales.”