The steroids scandal architect, Key Figure in Notorious Sports Doping Controversy, Dies at 75.

The orchestrator of the plot, who devised a plan to distribute stealthy banned substances to professional athletes including baseball icons Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Jones decades ago, has died. He was 75.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

A national inquiry regarding a separate firm set up by him, the Bay Area lab, led to the convictions of Jones, competitive biker Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Stubblefield, in addition to various support personnel and professionals.

Public Statements and Prison Time

Conte, who completed several months in federal prison for dealing steroids, talked publicly about his high-profile athletes. He went on TV to assert he had observed triple Olympic champion Marion Jones use a syringe with HGH, but consistently avoided incriminating Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

The Mitchell Report

The investigation led to the volume titled Game of Shadows. A week after the release of the book in 2006, baseball Commissioner Selig appointed political figure George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

Conte stated he sold steroids referred to as “the cream” and “the clear” and coached on their use to many elite athletes, including Jason Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, according to the report.

“The illegal use of banned drugs poses a serious threat to the integrity of the competition,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Widespread use by athletes of these compounds puts at a disadvantage the clean players who avoid them and leads to skepticism about the accuracy of baseball records.”

The report noted the problems were not sudden. The report emphasized all parties in professional baseball in the preceding decades – including commissioners, team executives, the players’ association and players – were partly accountable for what he labeled the PED epoch.

Case Inception

The federal investigation into the company began with a IRS investigator examining the company’s trash. He ended up pleading guilty to a pair of the multiple accusations against him in that year before a trial. Several of the 11 convicted people were caught lying to grand jurors.

Related Cases

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, confessed to drug dealing counts arising from his involvement with Balco. Anderson was sentenced to 90 days in prison and three months of house arrest.

His Court Proceedings

The home run king was indicted for providing false statements to a grand jury about using banned substances and went on trial in that year. Prosecutors dropped the charges down the line when the authorities chose not to challenge an reversed conviction to the supreme court.

A decorated player and star performer, he retired after the 2007 season with 762 homers, breaking the record of 755 that Hank Aaron set from the 1950s to 1970s. The athlete refuted knowingly using banned substances but has not been voted to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

Conte remarked to the press in a past conversation that “competitors do cheat to succeed, but the officials and lawyers also bend the rules.” He also questioned whether the results in such legal cases merited the work.

Post-incarceration, he returned to work in the late 2000s by rebooting a health products venture he had founded two decades earlier called SNAC System. He set up shop in the very same place that previously contained Balco in Burlingame.

Unapologetic Views

Conte remained defiant about his key part in distributing designer steroids to professional competitors. He argued he simply helped “level the playing field” in a sports environment teeming with doping athletes.

Expert Opinions

To an expert, a at the time a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, he may as well have been selling illegal narcotics. “You are talking about unlawful substance distribution. You are talking about substance use in breach of national statutes,” the doctor remarked in the past. “It's not a good deed and it's not altruistic. This is drug dealing.”