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The man behind the scheme, who masterminded a system to supply hard-to-detect PEDs to professional athletes such as baseball greats Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and sprinting gold medalist Jones decades ago, has passed away. He reached 75 years.

Government Probe and Criminal Cases

The federal government's investigation into another company Conte founded, Balco, resulted in the convictions of Marion Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Stubblefield, in addition to various support personnel and professionals.

Conte's Admissions and Sentencing

Conte, who spent several months in a penitentiary for steroid distribution, talked publicly about his famous former clients. He went on TV to state he had seen three-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones use a syringe with growth hormones, but consistently avoided implicating Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

The Mitchell Report

The federal case inspired the volume Game of Shadows. Shortly after the book's publication in that year, MLB commissioner Selig appointed political figure George Mitchell to look into PED use.

He revealed he provided steroids referred to as two specific substances and advised on their use to many elite athletes, such as Jason Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

“The illegal use of PEDs represents a major risk to the integrity of the competition,” the findings emphasized. “Prevalent consumption by athletes of these drugs harms the honest athletes who avoid them and raises questions about the legitimacy of sporting achievements.”

The report noted the issues didn’t develop overnight. The report emphasized all parties in baseball in the previous twenty years – encompassing commissioners, management, the union and players – were partly accountable for what he termed the doping period.

How It Began

The official probe into Balco started when a IRS investigator digging through the company’s trash. Conte ended up pleading guilty to a pair of the numerous counts he faced in the mid-2000s before a trial. Half a dozen of the defendants sentenced were caught misleading grand jurors.

Related Cases

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, confessed to steroid distribution charges stemming from his Balco connections. Anderson was sentenced to 90 days in incarceration and an equal period of restricted movement.

The Slugger's Case

The home run king was charged with providing false statements to a investigative body about receiving performance-enhancing drugs and faced a trial in 2011. Prosecutors dropped his case down the line when the government decided not to appeal an reversed conviction to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, he concluded his playing days after the 2007 season with 762 home runs, surpassing the mark of Aaron's total that Hank Aaron set from the 1950s to 1970s. Bonds denied intentionally taking PEDs but has never been elected to the Hall of Fame.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

Conte remarked to the press in a 2010 discussion that “sportspeople break rules to succeed, but the officials and lawyers cheat to win, too.” He doubted whether the results in such legal cases justified the effort.

After serving his sentence, he got back in business in the late 2000s by resuscitating a nutritional supplements business he had launched years before called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He operated in the very same place that once housed the original company in Burlingame.

Continued Justification

The controversial figure stayed unrepentant about his central role in providing designer steroids to top sports stars. He claimed he simply helped “level the playing field” in a world already rife with cheaters.

Critical Perspectives

To Dr Gary Wadler, a at the time a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Conte may as well have been distributing cocaine or heroin. “It concerns blatant drug dealing. You are talking about drug consumption in defiance of legal codes,” the doctor remarked in 2007. “This isn't charity and not a benevolent act. This is drug dealing.”