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Victor Conte, who devised a system to supply undetectable PEDs to elite sports stars such as baseball icons Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, has died. He was 75.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

The federal government's investigation into an additional venture set up by him, Balco, led to the convictions of Marion Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Stubblefield, along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte's Admissions and Legal Consequences

Conte, who served several months in a penitentiary for dealing steroids, spoke openly about his high-profile athletes. He was featured on TV to claim he had seen three-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones self-administer with growth hormones, but always refrained from implicating Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

Baseball's Investigation

This probe led to the publication Game of Shadows. Just days following the publication date in 2006, the sport's chief Selig brought on former senate majority leader George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

He admitted he distributed steroids referred to as two specific substances and advised on their use to many professional sportspeople, such as Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

“The illegal use of PEDs is a significant danger to the fairness of the competition,” the report stated. “Widespread use by competitors of such substances puts at a disadvantage the those who refuse to cheat who avoid them and creates doubts about the accuracy of baseball records.”

Mitchell indicated the challenges didn’t develop overnight. He said all parties in professional baseball in the preceding decades – encompassing leaders, team executives, the players’ association and players – bore partial blame for what he called the doping period.

Case Inception

The federal investigation into Balco started when a IRS investigator digging through the business refuse. The defendant eventually confessed to two of the 42 charges against him in that year prior to court proceedings. Six of the defendants sentenced were caught misleading the court.

Further Legal Actions

Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to drug dealing counts stemming from his involvement with Balco. He received a sentence to three months in jail and the same duration of home confinement.

The Slugger's Case

The home run king was accused of providing false statements to a federal jury about receiving banned substances and stood trial in the early 2010s. Prosecutors dropped his case down the line when the authorities chose not to contest an overturned ruling to the supreme court.

A multiple MVP winner and star performer, he ended his career after the 2007 season with 762 home runs, exceeding the record of 755 that Hank Aaron set from the 1950s to 1970s. The athlete refuted knowingly using PEDs but has never been elected to the sport's hall of honor.

Later Years

The former convict remarked to the press in a 2010 discussion that “sportspeople break rules to succeed, but the government agents and prosecutors also bend the rules.” He wondered whether the conclusions in such proceedings justified the effort.

Following his prison term, Conte resumed operations in the late 2000s by rebooting a health products venture he had launched years before called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He located it in the identical location that once housed Balco in the California city.

Continued Justification

Conte continued to justify about his central role in doling out tailored drugs to top sports stars. He argued he simply helped “level the playing field” in a sports environment teeming with rule-breakers.

Outside Views

To Dr Gary Wadler, a former participant of the World Anti-Doping Agency, he may as well have been distributing illegal narcotics. “You are talking about blatant drug dealing. You are talking about substance use in defiance of legal codes,” the doctor remarked in 2007. “This is not philanthropy and this is not some do-gooding. It's trafficking.”