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The orchestrator of the plot, who masterminded a system to supply hard-to-detect performance-enhancing drugs to elite sports stars such as baseball icons Giambi and Bonds and track and field star Jones decades ago, has died. His age was 75.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

A national investigation into a separate firm set up by him, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), led to the convictions of Marion Jones, competitive biker Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Stubblefield, as well as various support personnel and professionals.

Public Statements and Legal Consequences

The Balco founder, who served a third of a year in a federal facility for steroid distribution, talked publicly about his well-known clients. He was featured on television to claim he had observed triple Olympic champion Marion Jones inject herself with human growth hormones, but always refrained from incriminating Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Sport's Official Review

This probe inspired the publication Game of Shadows. Just days following the publication date in that year, the sport's chief Selig appointed political figure George Mitchell to look into PED use.

He revealed he sold steroids called “the cream” and “the clear” and guided their application to many top performers, like Jason Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Employing performance-enhancing substances represents a major risk to the honesty of the competition,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Prevalent consumption by players of these drugs unfairly disadvantages the those who refuse to cheat who decline to take them and creates doubts about the validity of baseball records.”

Mitchell indicated the issues took time to emerge. He said each participant in baseball in the previous twenty years – encompassing leaders, management, the players’ association and players – shared some responsibility for what he called the PED epoch.

Case Inception

The federal investigation into the laboratory was initiated by a tax agent searching the business refuse. The defendant ended up pleading guilty to two of the multiple accusations filed against him in that year prior to court proceedings. Six of the defendants sentenced were convicted for misleading the court.

Further Legal Actions

His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges arising from his ties to the lab. He received a sentence to three months in jail and an equal period of home confinement.

The Slugger's Case

Bonds was charged with deceiving a grand jury about receiving banned substances and went on trial in that year. The case was dismissed the case four years later when the prosecutors opted not to contest an overturned ruling to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, he concluded his playing days after the 2007 season with 762 homers, surpassing the milestone of 755 that Hank Aaron set from the 1950s to 1970s. He claimed he did not knowingly using PEDs but has never been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Later Years

The former convict told the Associated Press in a 2010 interview that “competitors do cheat to win, but the government agents and prosecutors cheat to win, too.” He wondered whether the results in such legal cases justified the effort.

Following his prison term, Conte returned to work in that year by rebooting a supplements company he had founded years before called SNAC System. He set up shop in the same building that was home to the original company in Burlingame, California.

Defiant Stance

Conte stayed unrepentant about his major involvement in providing tailored drugs to elite athletes. He argued he simply helped “level the playing field” in a sports environment teeming with doping athletes.

Expert Opinions

To an expert, a then-member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Conte could be compared to pushing cocaine or heroin. “You are talking about unlawful substance distribution. It's about substance use in violation of federal law,” the doctor remarked in that period. “This is not philanthropy and not a benevolent act. It's trafficking.”