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The man behind the scheme, who masterminded a operation to provide hard-to-detect banned substances to professional athletes featuring baseball icons Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, has died. His age was 75.

Official Inquiry and Criminal Cases

A national investigation into a separate firm set up by him, the Bay Area lab, resulted in the criminal findings of Marion Jones, top track cyclist Tammy Thomas, and retired NFL player Stubblefield, along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Public Statements and Sentencing

The Balco founder, who spent four months in federal prison for dealing steroids, spoke openly about his well-known clients. He appeared on broadcast media to claim he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Marion Jones self-administer with HGH, but never directly pointing the finger at Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

The Mitchell Report

This probe led to the volume Game of Shadows. Shortly after the release of the book in 2006, baseball Commissioner Selig appointed ex-senator George Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

Conte stated he sold steroids known as two specific substances and coached on their use to dozens of elite athletes, including Jason Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Using PEDs represents a major risk to the fairness of the competition,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Broad usage by competitors of these drugs puts at a disadvantage the honest athletes who avoid them and raises questions about the accuracy of baseball records.”

It was stated the issues were not sudden. He said everyone involved in the sport in the preceding decades – including commissioners, team executives, the players’ association and athletes themselves – bore partial blame for what he called the doping period.

Case Inception

The government's case into Balco began with a IRS investigator examining the corporate garbage. The defendant ended up pleading guilty to a pair of the multiple accusations against him in that year prior to court proceedings. Half a dozen of the defendants sentenced were convicted for lying to the court.

Further Legal Actions

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges arising from his Balco connections. The court gave him to 90 days in prison and the same duration of home confinement.

Bonds' Legal Battles

The baseball legend was accused of providing false statements to a federal jury about receiving PEDs and went on trial in 2011. The case was dismissed the case down the line when the government decided not to appeal an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds concluded his playing days after the 2007 season with 762 homers, exceeding the record of Aaron's total that Aaron achieved from 1954-76. Bonds denied intentionally taking banned substances but has never been elected to the Hall of Fame.

After Incarceration

Conte stated in an interview in a past conversation that “yes, athletes cheat to triumph, but the federal representatives cheat to win, too.” He also questioned whether the outcomes in these trials justified the effort.

Following his prison term, Conte resumed operations in that year by resuscitating a supplements company he had started years before called SNAC System. He located it in the same building that was home to his former lab in the California city.

Continued Justification

The controversial figure continued to justify about his key part in providing designer steroids to elite athletes. He argued he simply helped “balance the odds” in a world full of rule-breakers.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a at the time a member of the global anti-doping body, Conte was essentially selling hard drugs. “It concerns blatant drug dealing. This refers to using drugs in violation of federal law,” he stated in the past. “It's not a good deed and not a benevolent act. This is drug dealing.”