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The man behind the scheme, who devised a system to supply undetectable banned substances to top competitors including baseball greats Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and sprinting gold medalist Jones in the past, has passed away. He was 75.

Official Inquiry and Criminal Cases

An official investigation into another company Conte founded, the Bay Area lab, resulted in the guilty verdicts of Marion Jones, elite sprint cyclist Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Stubblefield, along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Public Statements and Sentencing

Conte, who completed a third of a year in federal prison for steroid distribution, spoke openly about his famous former clients. He appeared on TV to state he had observed three-time Olympic medalist Jones use a syringe with human growth hormones, but always refrained from pointing the finger at Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

The Mitchell Report

The investigation resulted in the book titled Game of Shadows. Just days following the book's publication in 2006, MLB commissioner Selig hired political figure Mitchell to examine doping in baseball.

Conte stated he distributed steroids referred to as certain undetectable drugs and coached on their usage to numerous professional sportspeople, including Jason Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

“The illegal use of banned drugs represents a major risk to the integrity of the game,” the report stated. “Prevalent consumption by players of these compounds puts at a disadvantage the honest athletes who decline to take them and raises questions about the legitimacy of baseball records.”

The report noted the challenges were not sudden. The report emphasized each participant in the sport in the previous twenty years – including commissioners, team executives, the representative body and athletes themselves – shared some responsibility for what he labeled the PED epoch.

Case Inception

The government's case into Balco was initiated by a revenue officer searching the corporate garbage. Conte eventually confessed to a couple of the 42 charges he faced in that year before a trial. Several of the 11 convicted people were caught misleading federal investigators.

Associated Convictions

The athlete's coach Anderson, confessed to illegal substance sales stemming from his involvement with Balco. The court gave him to a quarter year in jail and three months of home confinement.

His Court Proceedings

The baseball legend was charged with providing false statements to a grand jury about using performance-enhancing drugs and went on trial in that year. The case was dismissed his case after several years when the authorities chose not to contest an reversed conviction to the highest court.

A multiple MVP winner and star performer, Bonds retired after the that season with 762 home runs, surpassing the record of Aaron's total that Hank Aaron established from the 1950s to 1970s. He claimed he did not knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs but has not been voted to the Hall of Fame.

Later Years

The former convict told the Associated Press in a 2010 interview that “sportspeople break rules to win, but the government agents and prosecutors engage in misconduct as well.” He doubted whether the results in such proceedings were worth the resources.

Following his prison term, Conte returned to work in 2007 by rebooting a supplements company he had started two decades earlier called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He operated in the same building that once housed the original company in Burlingame.

Continued Justification

The controversial figure stayed unrepentant about his major involvement in doling out designer steroids to top sports stars. He claimed he simply helped “balance the odds” in a arena teeming with doping athletes.

Critical Perspectives

To a WADA member, a then-member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Conte may as well have been pushing hard drugs. “You are talking about totally illegal drug trafficking. This refers to drug consumption in violation of federal law,” he stated in 2007. “This is not philanthropy and not a benevolent act. This is drug dealing.”