Victor Conte, Key Figure in Infamous Sports Doping Scandal, Dies at 75.

The man behind the scheme, who masterminded a plan to supply hard-to-detect PEDs to professional athletes such as MLB legends Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, has died. His age was 75.

Government Probe and Convictions

The federal government's investigation into a separate firm Conte founded, Balco, resulted in the convictions of Marion Jones, top track cyclist Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Stubblefield, along with trainers, suppliers, chemists, attorneys, and coaches.

Conte's Admissions and Prison Time

The Balco founder, who served a third of a year in federal prison for illegal drug sales, talked publicly about his famous former clients. He appeared on television to state he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Marion Jones inject herself with growth hormones, but never directly implicating Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

The Mitchell Report

The investigation inspired the volume Game of Shadows. A week after the release of the book in 2006, MLB commissioner Bud Selig brought on ex-senator George Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

He admitted he provided steroids known as “the cream” and “the clear” and guided their usage to dozens of top performers, such as Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, according to the report.

“The illegal use of banned drugs poses a serious threat to the honesty of the sport,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Widespread use by athletes of these compounds puts at a disadvantage the those who refuse to cheat who refuse to use them and leads to skepticism about the legitimacy of sporting achievements.”

Mitchell indicated the issues were not sudden. The report emphasized each participant in baseball in the prior two decades – covering commissioners, management, the union and players – shared some responsibility for what he labeled “the steroids era”.

How It Began

The federal investigation into the company was initiated by a tax agent digging through the company’s trash. The defendant eventually confessed to a pair of the multiple accusations against him in that year before a trial. Several of the defendants sentenced were ensnared for lying to grand jurors.

Further Legal Actions

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, admitted guilt to illegal substance sales stemming from his Balco connections. Anderson was sentenced to three months in prison and the same duration of restricted movement.

Bonds' Legal Battles

Bonds was indicted for providing false statements to a federal jury about obtaining banned substances and faced a trial in that year. The case was dismissed the charges down the line when the prosecutors opted not to contest an reversed conviction to the highest court.

A decorated player and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds retired after the that season with a record home run tally, breaking the record of 755 that Hank Aaron established from his career. Bonds denied consciously consuming PEDs but has never been elected to the Hall of Fame.

After Incarceration

He remarked to the press in a past conversation that “sportspeople break rules to win, but the government agents and prosecutors also bend the rules.” He wondered whether the outcomes in such legal cases justified the effort.

After serving his sentence, he resumed operations in 2007 by reviving a nutritional supplements business he had launched previously called SNAC System. He set up shop in the identical location that was home to his former lab in the California city.

Continued Justification

He remained defiant about his central role in distributing custom PEDs to professional competitors. He claimed he simply helped “balance the odds” in a sports environment already rife with rule-breakers.

Expert Opinions

To Dr Gary Wadler, a former participant of the global anti-doping body, Conte could be compared to pushing hard drugs. “You are talking about totally illegal drug trafficking. It's about drug consumption in breach of national statutes,” Wadler said in 2007. “It's not a good deed and not a benevolent act. This is drug dealing.”