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Victor Conte, who engineered a system to distribute hard-to-detect performance-enhancing drugs to top competitors including baseball greats Giambi and Bonds and sprinting gold medalist Jones decades ago, is deceased. He was 75.

Government Probe and Convictions

An official inquiry regarding a separate firm established by Conte, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), led to the criminal findings of Marion Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and retired NFL player Stubblefield, as well as various support personnel and professionals.

Open Discussions and Prison Time

Conte, who spent four months in a penitentiary for illegal drug sales, spoke openly about his high-profile athletes. He appeared on TV to assert he had witnessed three-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones inject herself with HGH, but never directly pointing the finger at Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

Sport's Official Review

The federal case resulted in the publication Game of Shadows. Shortly after the book's publication in 2006, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hired ex-senator George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

Conte stated he sold steroids called certain undetectable drugs and advised on their use to dozens of elite athletes, including Jason Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, as per the investigation.

Using banned drugs poses a serious threat to the honesty of the game,” the report stated. “Broad usage by competitors of such substances puts at a disadvantage the those who refuse to cheat who avoid them and creates doubts about the validity of historical stats.”

The report noted the challenges didn’t develop overnight. The report emphasized each participant in baseball in the preceding decades – covering commissioners, team executives, the representative body and athletes themselves – bore partial blame for what he labeled “the steroids era”.

Case Inception

The official probe into the company was initiated by a revenue officer examining the company’s trash. He ultimately admitted guilt to two of the numerous counts he faced in 2005 prior to court proceedings. Six of the defendants sentenced were ensnared for deceiving federal investigators.

Associated Convictions

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, confessed to steroid distribution charges arising from his Balco connections. He received a sentence to a quarter year in jail and an equal period of house arrest.

The Slugger's Case

Bonds was charged with lying to a grand jury about using banned substances and faced a trial in 2011. Prosecutors dropped the charges four years later when the authorities chose not to contest an overturned ruling to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and star performer, Bonds concluded his playing days after the 2007 season with 762 homers, surpassing the mark of Aaron's total that Aaron achieved from the 1950s to 1970s. The athlete refuted consciously consuming performance-enhancing drugs but has not been voted to the sport's hall of honor.

Later Years

The former convict remarked to the press in a 2010 interview that “sportspeople break rules to succeed, but the officials and lawyers cheat to win, too.” He also questioned whether the outcomes in such proceedings were worth the resources.

Post-incarceration, Conte got back in business in 2007 by rebooting a supplements company he had started years before called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He set up shop in the same building that previously contained the original company in Burlingame, California.

Unapologetic Views

Conte remained defiant about his major involvement in providing tailored drugs to elite athletes. He maintained he simply helped “even the competition” in a arena teeming with rule-breakers.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a at the time a member of the WADA, Conte may as well have been selling cocaine or heroin. “You are talking about unlawful substance distribution. It's about drug consumption in breach of national statutes,” he stated in 2007. “This is not philanthropy and not a benevolent act. This is drug dealing.”