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Victor Conte, who devised a system to supply hard-to-detect performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes including baseball icons Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and sprinting gold medalist Marion Jones in the past, is deceased. His age was 75.

Government Probe and Criminal Cases

A national inquiry regarding a separate firm set up by him, Balco, culminated in the criminal findings of Marion Jones, competitive biker Tammy Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Stubblefield, along with trainers, suppliers, chemists, attorneys, and coaches.

Public Statements and Sentencing

Conte, who served several months in a penitentiary for illegal drug sales, discussed frankly about his well-known clients. He appeared on broadcast media to claim he had witnessed decorated Olympian Jones self-administer with human growth hormones, but always refrained from incriminating Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

The Mitchell Report

The federal case led to the volume titled Game of Shadows. A week after the publication date in 2006, baseball Commissioner Selig appointed former senate majority leader Mitchell to look into PED use.

He admitted he distributed steroids called “the cream” and “the clear” and coached on their usage to dozens of elite athletes, including Jason Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Using performance-enhancing substances is a significant danger to the fairness of the game,” the findings emphasized. “Broad usage by players of these compounds unfairly disadvantages the those who refuse to cheat who refuse to use them and leads to skepticism about the accuracy of historical stats.”

The report noted the challenges didn’t develop overnight. Mitchell claimed all parties in the sport in the preceding decades – including leaders, team executives, the representative body and athletes themselves – were partly accountable for what he called “the steroids era”.

Investigation Origins

The federal investigation into the company was initiated by a revenue officer digging through the company’s trash. The defendant eventually confessed to two of the multiple accusations against him in that year before a trial. Several of the defendants sentenced were ensnared for lying to federal investigators.

Further Legal Actions

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges stemming from his involvement with Balco. Anderson was sentenced to a quarter year in prison and an equal period of home confinement.

Bonds' Legal Battles

The baseball legend was accused of lying to a investigative body about using banned substances and went on trial in 2011. The government abandoned the charges after several years when the prosecutors opted not to appeal an reversed conviction to the supreme court.

A multiple MVP winner and frequent All-Star, he retired after the 2007 campaign with 762 home runs, surpassing the milestone of Aaron's total that Hank Aaron set from 1954-76. Bonds denied intentionally taking performance-enhancing drugs but has failed to gain entry to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

After Incarceration

He remarked to the press in a past conversation that “sportspeople break rules to triumph, but the federal representatives cheat to win, too.” He doubted whether the outcomes in such proceedings justified the effort.

After serving his sentence, he returned to work in that year by rebooting a health products venture he had founded two decades earlier called his supplements brand. He operated in the same building that was home to the original company in Burlingame, California.

Continued Justification

Conte stayed unrepentant about his central role in doling out custom PEDs to professional competitors. He claimed he simply helped “balance the odds” in a arena teeming with cheaters.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a then-member of the WADA, Conte was essentially distributing cocaine or heroin. “You are talking about totally illegal drug trafficking. It's about using drugs in defiance of legal codes,” he stated in that period. “This isn't charity and this is not some do-gooding. This is drug dealing.”