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Victor Conte, who masterminded a operation to provide undetectable banned substances to elite sports stars such as MLB legends Giambi and Bonds and Olympic track champion Jones decades ago, has died. He was 75.

Government Probe and Legal Outcomes

An official investigation into a separate firm set up by him, Balco, led to the criminal findings of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Stubblefield, in addition to coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Open Discussions and Legal Consequences

He, who served four months in federal prison for steroid distribution, talked publicly about his well-known clients. He was featured on TV to state he had observed three-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones self-administer with human growth hormones, but consistently avoided incriminating Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

Baseball's Investigation

This probe inspired the book Game of Shadows. A week after the release of the book in the mid-2000s, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hired ex-senator George Mitchell to look into PED use.

He admitted he sold steroids known as certain undetectable drugs and guided their use to many professional sportspeople, such as Jason Giambi, a star player, as per the investigation.

“The illegal use of PEDs poses a serious threat to the fairness of the competition,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Widespread use by players of these compounds puts at a disadvantage the clean players who avoid them and leads to skepticism about the legitimacy of historical stats.”

The report noted the issues took time to emerge. Mitchell claimed all parties in professional baseball in the preceding decades – encompassing commissioners, team executives, the union and players – were partly accountable for what he called the doping period.

How It Began

The official probe into the laboratory started when a IRS investigator examining the corporate garbage. He ultimately admitted guilt to a couple of the multiple accusations filed against him in that year prior to court proceedings. Several of the defendants sentenced were convicted for deceiving the court.

Related Cases

The athlete's coach Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges linked to his Balco connections. He received a sentence to a quarter year in prison and three months of house arrest.

His Court Proceedings

The home run king was indicted for lying to a federal jury about receiving PEDs and went on trial in the early 2010s. Prosecutors dropped the charges four years later when the prosecutors opted not to appeal an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and frequent All-Star, Bonds ended his career after the 2007 season with a record home run tally, surpassing the milestone of 755 that Hank Aaron set from 1954-76. He claimed he did not intentionally taking banned substances but has failed to gain entry to the sport's hall of honor.

Later Years

The former convict stated in an interview in a 2010 discussion that “sportspeople break rules to triumph, but the officials and lawyers engage in misconduct as well.” He doubted whether the results in these trials were worth the resources.

Following his prison term, Conte got back in business in 2007 by reviving a supplements company he had started years before called his supplements brand. He operated in the very same place that once housed Balco in Burlingame.

Defiant Stance

He remained defiant about his key part in doling out designer steroids to elite athletes. He argued he simply helped “level the playing field” in a sports environment already rife with doping athletes.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a at the time a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Conte could be compared to pushing cocaine or heroin. “It concerns blatant drug dealing. You are talking about drug consumption in breach of national statutes,” Wadler said in the past. “This is not philanthropy and not a benevolent act. It's illegal sales.”