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Victor Conte, who masterminded a operation to supply undetectable PEDs to elite sports stars including MLB legends Giambi and Bonds and sprinting gold medalist Jones decades ago, has died. He was 75.

Official Inquiry and Convictions

The federal government's inquiry regarding another company set up by him, the Bay Area lab, resulted in the guilty verdicts of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Thomas, and retired NFL player Dana Stubblefield, along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Open Discussions and Sentencing

Conte, who spent a third of a year in a penitentiary for dealing steroids, spoke openly about his high-profile athletes. He went on broadcast media to state he had witnessed three-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones inject herself with HGH, but never directly implicating Bonds, the baseball star.

The Mitchell Report

The federal case resulted in the volume Game of Shadows. A week after the publication date in that year, MLB commissioner Selig appointed ex-senator Mitchell to investigate steroids.

He admitted he provided steroids known as two specific substances and guided their application to numerous elite athletes, like Giambi, a star player, the Mitchell report said.

Using banned drugs poses a serious threat to the honesty of the competition,” the report stated. “Widespread use by players of such substances unfairly disadvantages the clean players who refuse to use them and creates doubts about the accuracy of sporting achievements.”

It was stated the problems didn’t develop overnight. Mitchell claimed all parties in baseball in the preceding decades – including commissioners, club officials, the representative body and players – shared some responsibility for what he termed the doping period.

Case Inception

The official probe into Balco started when a tax agent searching the business refuse. Conte ended up pleading guilty to two of the multiple accusations filed against him in the mid-2000s prior to court proceedings. Half a dozen of the 11 convicted people were convicted for deceiving federal investigators.

Associated Convictions

Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to illegal substance sales arising from his involvement with Balco. He received a sentence to a quarter year in prison and an equal period of house arrest.

Bonds' Legal Battles

The baseball legend was charged with providing false statements to a investigative body about receiving PEDs and faced a trial in 2011. The case was dismissed his case after several years when the authorities chose not to contest an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and star performer, he retired after the that season with a record home run tally, breaking the milestone of 755 that Hank Aaron established from 1954-76. Bonds denied consciously consuming banned substances but has not been voted to the sport's hall of honor.

Later Years

The former convict told the Associated Press in a past conversation that “competitors do cheat to succeed, but the government agents and prosecutors cheat to win, too.” He wondered whether the results in such proceedings were worth the resources.

After serving his sentence, he got back in business in the late 2000s 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 very same place that previously contained Balco in Burlingame.

Continued Justification

The controversial figure stayed unrepentant about his major involvement in distributing custom PEDs to professional competitors. He maintained he simply helped “even the competition” in a world full of doping athletes.

Outside Views

To an expert, a former participant of the WADA, Conte may as well have been distributing hard drugs. “This involves unlawful substance distribution. It's about drug consumption in breach of national statutes,” the doctor remarked in the past. “This isn't charity and it's not altruistic. It's illegal sales.”