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The orchestrator of the plot, who devised a plan to provide undetectable performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes featuring MLB legends Giambi and Bonds and track and field star Jones years back, has died. He reached 75 years.

Official Inquiry and Criminal Cases

An official probe of an additional venture set up by him, the Bay Area lab, resulted in the guilty verdicts of Marion Jones, top track cyclist Tammy Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Dana Stubblefield, in addition to various support personnel and professionals.

Conte's Admissions and Legal Consequences

The Balco founder, who completed four months in federal prison for dealing steroids, spoke openly about his high-profile athletes. He went on television to assert he had witnessed decorated Olympian Jones inject herself with growth hormones, but never directly incriminating Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

The Mitchell Report

The federal case inspired the book Game of Shadows. Just days following the publication date in that year, MLB commissioner Selig hired ex-senator George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

He admitted he distributed steroids known as “the cream” and “the clear” and coached on their application to many top performers, such as Giambi, a star player, according to the report.

Using banned drugs represents a major risk to the fairness of the game,” the findings emphasized. “Broad usage by players of these compounds puts at a disadvantage the honest athletes who refuse to use them and raises questions about the legitimacy of historical stats.”

The report noted the challenges were not sudden. The report emphasized each participant in the sport in the prior two decades – covering leaders, management, the union and players – were partly accountable for what he labeled “the steroids era”.

Case Inception

The government's case into the company was initiated by a revenue officer searching the company’s trash. The defendant ultimately admitted guilt to a pair of the multiple accusations he faced in 2005 prior to court proceedings. Half a dozen of the defendants sentenced were caught deceiving grand jurors.

Related Cases

The athlete's coach Greg Anderson, confessed to illegal substance sales stemming from his Balco connections. Anderson was sentenced to three months in jail and three months of restricted movement.

The Slugger's Case

The home run king was accused of deceiving a federal jury about using banned substances and stood trial in 2011. Prosecutors dropped his case down the line when the government decided not to challenge an overturned ruling to the highest court.

A decorated player and 14-time All-Star outfielder, he ended his career after the 2007 season with a record home run tally, exceeding the record of Aaron's total that Aaron set from 1954-76. He claimed he did not consciously consuming performance-enhancing drugs but has failed to gain entry to the sport's hall of honor.

Later Years

He remarked to the press in a 2010 interview that “sportspeople break rules to succeed, but the government agents and prosecutors also bend the rules.” He doubted whether the results in such proceedings justified the effort.

After serving his sentence, Conte got back in business in 2007 by reviving a supplements company he had founded years before called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He set up shop in the identical location that once housed the original company in Burlingame.

Unapologetic Views

Conte stayed unrepentant about his central role in providing tailored drugs to top sports stars. He claimed he simply helped “balance the odds” in a arena teeming with doping athletes.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a then-member of the WADA, Conte could be compared to selling illegal narcotics. “It concerns totally illegal drug trafficking. You are talking about substance use in breach of national statutes,” he stated in 2007. “This is not philanthropy and not a benevolent act. It's trafficking.”