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Victor Conte, who masterminded a plan to supply undetectable PEDs to elite sports stars featuring baseball greats Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, has died. His age was 75.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

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

Conte's Admissions and Prison Time

The Balco founder, who served four months in federal prison for dealing steroids, talked publicly about his famous former clients. He appeared on TV to claim he had seen three-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones self-administer with human growth hormones, but never directly pointing the finger at Barry Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

The Mitchell Report

The investigation led to the book titled Game of Shadows. Shortly after the publication date in the mid-2000s, MLB commissioner Bud Selig appointed political figure George Mitchell to look into PED use.

He admitted he distributed steroids known as certain undetectable drugs and coached on their use to numerous professional sportspeople, like Giambi, a star player, the Mitchell report said.

Using PEDs represents a major risk to the integrity of the sport,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Prevalent consumption by competitors of such substances unfairly disadvantages the those who refuse to cheat who decline to take them and creates doubts about the legitimacy of historical stats.”

The report noted the issues were not sudden. Mitchell claimed each participant in the sport in the preceding decades – covering commissioners, club officials, the representative body and players – shared some responsibility for what he labeled the doping period.

Case Inception

The federal investigation into the laboratory began with a tax agent searching the business refuse. The defendant eventually confessed to a couple of the numerous counts filed against him in that year before a trial. Six of the defendants sentenced were convicted for misleading the court.

Related Cases

His fitness instructor Anderson, admitted guilt to drug dealing counts stemming from his involvement with Balco. Anderson was sentenced to three months in incarceration and three months of house arrest.

Bonds' Legal Battles

Bonds was accused of providing false statements to a federal jury about receiving performance-enhancing drugs and went on trial in that year. Prosecutors dropped the charges down the line when the authorities chose not to appeal an reversed conviction to the federal apex court.

A multiple MVP winner and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds retired after the that season with 762 home runs, breaking the record of Aaron's total that Aaron established from his career. Bonds denied intentionally taking performance-enhancing drugs but has not been voted to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

After Incarceration

Conte stated in an interview in a past conversation that “sportspeople break rules to triumph, but the government agents and prosecutors engage in misconduct as well.” He wondered whether the outcomes in these trials were worth the resources.

Post-incarceration, Conte returned to work in the late 2000s by rebooting a supplements company he had launched years before called his supplements brand. He set up shop in the same building that previously contained Balco in the California city.

Defiant Stance

He stayed unrepentant about his central role in doling out custom PEDs to professional competitors. He claimed he simply helped “level the playing field” in a world already rife with cheaters.

Expert Opinions

To Dr Gary Wadler, a then-member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, he could be compared to pushing cocaine or heroin. “This involves blatant drug dealing. You are talking about drug consumption in defiance of legal codes,” Wadler said in that period. “It's not a good deed and not a benevolent act. It's illegal sales.”