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The man behind the scheme, who engineered a operation to provide stealthy performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes including MLB legends Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, is deceased. He was 75.

Official Inquiry and Criminal Cases

An official probe of a separate firm established by Conte, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), culminated in the guilty verdicts of Jones, competitive biker Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Dana Stubblefield, as well as coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Public Statements and Sentencing

Conte, who served four months in a penitentiary for steroid distribution, talked publicly about his high-profile athletes. He appeared on TV to state he had observed three-time Olympic medalist Jones inject herself with growth hormones, but always refrained from incriminating Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

Baseball's Investigation

This probe inspired the volume Game of Shadows. Shortly after the publication date in 2006, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig appointed ex-senator Mitchell to look into PED use.

He admitted he provided steroids known as two specific substances and coached on their application to dozens of professional sportspeople, like Jason Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Using performance-enhancing substances represents a major risk to the integrity of the sport,” the report stated. “Widespread use by competitors of these drugs unfairly disadvantages the clean players who refuse to use them and raises questions about the validity of baseball records.”

It was stated the issues were not sudden. He said everyone involved in baseball in the previous twenty years – covering leaders, management, the representative body and players – shared some responsibility for what he called the PED epoch.

Case Inception

The official probe into the company began with a IRS investigator searching the business refuse. The defendant ultimately admitted guilt to a couple of the multiple accusations against him in 2005 prior to court proceedings. Half a dozen of the defendants sentenced were ensnared for deceiving federal investigators.

Associated Convictions

The athlete's coach Anderson, confessed to steroid distribution charges arising from his ties to the lab. Anderson was sentenced to 90 days in prison and an equal period of restricted movement.

Bonds' Legal Battles

The baseball legend was charged with lying to a investigative body about using performance-enhancing drugs and stood trial in 2011. The case was dismissed the charges after several years when the government decided not to challenge an overturned ruling to the federal apex court.

A seven-time National League MVP and frequent All-Star, he ended his career after the 2007 campaign with 762 home runs, exceeding the mark of Aaron's total that Hank Aaron achieved from 1954-76. The athlete refuted consciously consuming PEDs but has never been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Later Years

He told the Associated Press in a 2010 interview that “sportspeople break rules to succeed, but the officials and lawyers also bend the rules.” He wondered whether the conclusions in such legal cases were worth the resources.

After serving his sentence, he resumed operations in the late 2000s by rebooting a nutritional supplements business he had started previously called SNAC System. He set up shop in the very same place that once housed his former lab in the California city.

Unapologetic Views

He continued to justify about his key part in distributing designer steroids to elite athletes. He claimed he simply helped “level the playing field” in a world already rife with rule-breakers.

Critical Perspectives

To an expert, a at the time a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Conte was essentially pushing hard drugs. “It concerns unlawful substance distribution. You are talking about substance use in breach of national statutes,” Wadler said in 2007. “It's not a good deed and it's not altruistic. This is drug dealing.”