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Victor Conte, who devised a system to distribute hard-to-detect performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes including baseball greats Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, is deceased. He was 75.

Government Probe and Criminal Cases

A national investigation into a separate firm Conte founded, Balco, led to the guilty verdicts of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and retired NFL player Dana Stubblefield, as well as various support personnel and professionals.

Public Statements and Sentencing

Conte, who spent several months in federal prison for dealing steroids, talked publicly about his high-profile athletes. He was featured on broadcast media to claim he had observed decorated Olympian Marion Jones inject herself with human growth hormones, but consistently avoided pointing the finger at Barry Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Baseball's Investigation

This probe inspired the book titled Game of Shadows. Just days following the publication date in 2006, MLB commissioner Bud Selig brought on ex-senator George Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

He admitted he distributed steroids referred to as two specific substances and guided their use to numerous professional sportspeople, such as Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, according to the report.

Using banned drugs poses a serious threat to the integrity of the competition,” the report stated. “Prevalent consumption by competitors of these drugs harms the honest athletes who refuse to use them and raises questions about the accuracy of historical stats.”

It was stated the issues were not sudden. He said each participant in professional baseball in the prior two decades – covering commissioners, club officials, the players’ association and players – shared some responsibility for what he termed “the steroids era”.

Case Inception

The federal investigation into Balco was initiated by a revenue officer digging through the corporate garbage. The defendant ultimately admitted guilt to a couple of the numerous counts against him in 2005 ahead of a court case. Six of the individuals found guilty were ensnared for lying to the court.

Related Cases

The athlete's coach Anderson, admitted guilt to steroid distribution charges linked to his Balco connections. Anderson was sentenced to a quarter year in jail and an equal period of home confinement.

His Court Proceedings

The home run king was charged with providing false statements to a grand jury about obtaining performance-enhancing drugs and faced a trial in 2011. Prosecutors dropped the charges after several years when the authorities chose not to appeal an overturned ruling to the highest court.

A decorated player and frequent All-Star, Bonds ended his career after the that season with a record home run tally, exceeding the mark of 755 that Hank Aaron established from the 1950s to 1970s. Bonds denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs but has never been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

He told the Associated Press in a past conversation that “yes, athletes cheat to succeed, but the government agents and prosecutors cheat to win, too.” He also questioned whether the outcomes in such proceedings were worth the resources.

Following his prison term, he resumed operations in the late 2000s by reviving a nutritional supplements business he had launched two decades earlier called his supplements brand. He located it in the very same place that was home to the original company in Burlingame, California.

Defiant Stance

He stayed unrepentant about his key part in doling out tailored drugs to professional competitors. He claimed he simply helped “level the playing field” in a sports environment already rife with cheaters.

Outside Views

To Dr Gary Wadler, a at the time a member of the WADA, he may as well have been pushing illegal narcotics. “This involves blatant drug dealing. You are talking about drug consumption in violation of federal law,” Wadler said in that period. “This is not philanthropy and it's not altruistic. It's illegal sales.”