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Victor Conte, who masterminded a plan to distribute stealthy PEDs to elite sports stars such as baseball greats Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and track and field star Marion Jones years back, has passed away. His age was 75.

Government Probe and Legal Outcomes

An official probe of an additional venture Conte founded, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), culminated in the convictions of Marion Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and retired NFL player Stubblefield, in addition to various support personnel and professionals.

Conte's Admissions and Sentencing

He, who spent a third of a year in federal prison for illegal drug sales, discussed frankly about his famous former clients. He appeared on TV to state he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Marion Jones self-administer with HGH, but always refrained from incriminating Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

Sport's Official Review

The investigation resulted in the publication Game of Shadows. Shortly after the book's publication in the mid-2000s, the sport's chief Bud Selig appointed former senate majority leader George Mitchell to look into PED use.

Conte stated he distributed steroids called two specific substances and coached on their use to dozens of elite athletes, such as Jason Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, according to the report.

Employing PEDs poses a serious threat to the honesty of the competition,” the findings emphasized. “Prevalent consumption by competitors of these compounds harms the clean players who refuse to use them and creates doubts about the legitimacy of baseball records.”

The report noted the problems didn’t develop overnight. Mitchell claimed everyone involved in baseball in the previous twenty years – encompassing leaders, club officials, the players’ association and athletes themselves – shared some responsibility for what he labeled the PED epoch.

Case Inception

The government's case into the laboratory was initiated by a revenue officer examining the corporate garbage. Conte eventually confessed to a pair of the numerous counts he faced in that year ahead of a court case. Several of the 11 convicted people were caught deceiving the court.

Further Legal Actions

Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, admitted guilt to drug dealing counts stemming from his ties to the lab. He received a sentence to a quarter year in prison and an equal period of home confinement.

The Slugger's Case

Bonds was indicted for lying to a federal jury about receiving performance-enhancing drugs and faced a trial in 2011. The case was dismissed the charges four years later when the prosecutors opted not to appeal an overturned ruling to the supreme court.

A multiple MVP winner and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds ended his career after the that season with 762 homers, exceeding the milestone of that number that Aaron achieved from 1954-76. He claimed he did not knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs but has failed to gain entry to the Hall of Fame.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

Conte stated in an interview in a 2010 discussion that “competitors do cheat to triumph, but the government agents and prosecutors cheat to win, too.” He doubted whether the outcomes in such proceedings were worth the resources.

After serving his sentence, he resumed operations in 2007 by resuscitating a nutritional supplements business he had started two decades earlier called his supplements brand. He operated in the same building that was home to his former lab in Burlingame.

Continued Justification

He stayed unrepentant about his major involvement in doling out designer steroids to professional competitors. He argued he simply helped “balance the odds” in a arena already rife with cheaters.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a former participant of the global anti-doping body, Conte was essentially distributing hard drugs. “This involves unlawful substance distribution. You are talking about substance use in breach of national statutes,” he stated in the past. “This isn't charity and it's not altruistic. It's illegal sales.”