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The orchestrator of the plot, who engineered a operation to provide hard-to-detect PEDs to elite sports stars featuring baseball greats Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and track and field star Marion Jones decades ago, has died. His age was 75.

Government Probe and Criminal Cases

A national inquiry regarding an additional venture established by Conte, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), resulted in the guilty verdicts of Jones, top track cyclist Thomas, and retired NFL player Stubblefield, in addition to coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Open Discussions and Prison Time

The Balco founder, who spent several months in a penitentiary for steroid distribution, talked publicly about his high-profile athletes. He went on broadcast media to claim he had seen three-time Olympic medalist Jones self-administer with HGH, but never directly implicating Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

Baseball's Investigation

The federal case inspired the book titled Game of Shadows. Shortly after the publication date in 2006, MLB commissioner Selig hired former senate majority leader Mitchell to investigate steroids.

Conte stated he sold steroids known as two specific substances and coached on their use to many top performers, such as Giambi, a star player, according to the report.

Employing PEDs poses a serious threat to the integrity of the sport,” the report stated. “Broad usage by players of these compounds puts at a disadvantage the those who refuse to cheat who decline to take them and leads to skepticism about the validity of sporting achievements.”

Mitchell indicated the problems took time to emerge. He said each participant in baseball in the previous twenty years – including commissioners, club officials, the players’ association and athletes themselves – bore partial blame for what he termed “the steroids era”.

Case Inception

The federal investigation into the company began with a IRS investigator searching the business refuse. Conte ended up pleading guilty to a pair of the multiple accusations against him in the mid-2000s ahead of a court case. Six of the defendants sentenced were ensnared for deceiving grand jurors.

Associated Convictions

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, confessed to illegal substance sales stemming from his involvement with Balco. He received a sentence to a quarter year in jail and three months of home confinement.

The Slugger's Case

Bonds was indicted for lying to a federal jury about receiving PEDs and faced a trial in the early 2010s. The government abandoned his case after several years when the government decided not to appeal an overturned ruling to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds ended his career after the 2007 season with a record home run tally, breaking the record of 755 that Hank Aaron set from his career. He claimed he did not knowingly using PEDs but has failed to gain entry to the Hall of Fame.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

Conte told the Associated Press in a 2010 discussion that “sportspeople break rules to succeed, but the government agents and prosecutors cheat to win, too.” He also questioned whether the outcomes in such proceedings justified the effort.

Following his prison term, Conte got back in business in the late 2000s by rebooting a health products venture he had started two decades earlier called SNAC System. He set up shop in the same building that previously contained Balco in Burlingame.

Unapologetic Views

The controversial figure remained defiant about his key part in doling out custom PEDs to professional competitors. He maintained he simply helped “level the playing field” in a sports environment full of cheaters.

Outside Views

To a WADA member, a former participant of the global anti-doping body, he could be compared to selling cocaine or heroin. “You are talking about blatant drug dealing. This refers to using drugs in breach of national statutes,” he stated in the past. “It's not a good deed and it's not altruistic. It's trafficking.”