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The man behind the scheme, who engineered a plan to supply hard-to-detect PEDs to professional athletes such as MLB legends Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Jones decades ago, has passed away. His age was 75.

Government Probe and Criminal Cases

An official investigation into a separate firm established by Conte, Balco, culminated in the criminal findings of Marion Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Stubblefield, in addition to coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte's Admissions and Sentencing

The Balco founder, who completed several months in federal prison for steroid distribution, talked publicly about his well-known clients. He went on television to assert he had observed decorated Olympian Jones inject herself with human growth hormones, but always refrained from incriminating Barry Bonds, the baseball star.

Sport's Official Review

This probe led to the volume Game of Shadows. Just days following the publication date in the mid-2000s, MLB commissioner Bud Selig appointed ex-senator Mitchell to look into PED use.

He admitted he distributed steroids referred to as “the cream” and “the clear” and coached on their application to numerous professional sportspeople, such as Giambi, a star player, according to the report.

“The illegal use of performance-enhancing substances is a significant danger to the fairness of the game,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Widespread use by competitors of such substances harms the honest athletes who refuse to use them and creates doubts about the legitimacy of historical stats.”

Mitchell indicated the issues didn’t develop overnight. Mitchell claimed everyone involved in baseball in the preceding decades – including leaders, team executives, the players’ association and athletes themselves – were partly accountable for what he termed “the steroids era”.

How It Began

The federal investigation into the company was initiated by a IRS investigator digging through the business refuse. He eventually confessed to a couple of the 42 charges he faced in 2005 ahead of a court case. Six of the individuals found guilty were convicted for lying to federal investigators.

Associated Convictions

His fitness instructor Anderson, confessed to steroid distribution charges arising from his Balco connections. Anderson was sentenced to three months in jail and the same duration of house arrest.

His Court Proceedings

The baseball legend was indicted for providing false statements to a grand jury about receiving performance-enhancing drugs and stood trial in 2011. The government abandoned the charges after several years when the prosecutors opted not to appeal an overturned ruling to the federal apex court.

A multiple MVP winner and frequent All-Star, he concluded his playing days after the 2007 season with a record home run tally, exceeding the mark of that number that Hank Aaron set from 1954-76. He claimed he did not intentionally taking performance-enhancing drugs but has never been elected to the Hall of Fame.

After Incarceration

The former convict remarked to the press in a 2010 discussion that “sportspeople break rules to win, but the officials and lawyers engage in misconduct as well.” He also questioned whether the outcomes in such proceedings justified the effort.

Following his prison term, Conte got back in business in that year by rebooting 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 was home to his former lab in the California city.

Unapologetic Views

Conte continued to justify about his central role in distributing tailored drugs to top sports stars. He argued he simply helped “level the playing field” in a arena already rife with doping athletes.

Outside Views

To Dr Gary Wadler, a former participant of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Conte may as well have been pushing hard drugs. “This involves totally illegal drug trafficking. You are talking about substance use in breach of national statutes,” he stated in the past. “This is not philanthropy and not a benevolent act. It's illegal sales.”