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Victor Conte, who devised a operation to supply hard-to-detect banned substances to professional athletes such as baseball greats Giambi and Bonds and sprinting gold medalist Marion Jones in the past, has died. He was 75.

Official Inquiry and Criminal Cases

The federal government's investigation into an additional venture established by Conte, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), led to the criminal findings of Marion Jones, competitive biker Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Stubblefield, along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte's Admissions and Sentencing

Conte, who completed four months in a penitentiary for illegal drug sales, spoke openly about his high-profile athletes. He went on broadcast media to claim he had observed three-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones inject herself with HGH, but consistently avoided incriminating Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

Sport's Official Review

This probe led to the volume Game of Shadows. Shortly after the publication date in that year, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hired ex-senator George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

Conte stated he sold steroids called two specific substances and guided their use to dozens of top performers, such as Jason Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Employing performance-enhancing substances poses a serious threat to the fairness of the competition,” the report stated. “Broad usage by athletes of these drugs harms the honest athletes who decline to take them and leads to skepticism about the validity of baseball records.”

The report noted the issues were not sudden. He said all parties in baseball in the prior two decades – including commissioners, management, the union and athletes themselves – bore partial blame for what he called the doping period.

How It Began

The government's case into the laboratory was initiated by a tax agent searching the corporate garbage. The defendant ultimately admitted guilt to two of the numerous counts he faced in that year prior to court proceedings. Several of the individuals found guilty were convicted for deceiving the court.

Further Legal Actions

Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, confessed to drug dealing counts arising from his ties to the lab. Anderson was sentenced to three months in jail and an equal period of house arrest.

Bonds' Legal Battles

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

A decorated player 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 set from his career. The athlete refuted consciously consuming banned substances but has failed to gain entry to the Hall of Fame.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

The former convict stated in an interview in a past conversation that “competitors do cheat to win, but the government agents and prosecutors engage in misconduct as well.” He also questioned whether the outcomes in such legal cases justified the effort.

After serving his sentence, he returned to work in that year by resuscitating a nutritional supplements business he had started two decades earlier called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He set up shop in the very same place that previously contained his former lab in Burlingame.

Defiant Stance

He remained defiant about his key part in providing designer steroids to top sports stars. He argued he simply helped “even the competition” in a sports environment teeming with rule-breakers.

Expert Opinions

To Dr Gary Wadler, a then-member of the global anti-doping body, Conte could be compared to selling cocaine or heroin. “It concerns unlawful substance distribution. It's about drug consumption in breach of national statutes,” the doctor remarked in the past. “This isn't charity and this is not some do-gooding. It's trafficking.”