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The orchestrator of the plot, who devised a system to provide stealthy PEDs to professional athletes such as MLB legends Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and sprinting gold medalist Jones decades ago, has died. His age was 75.

Government Probe and Convictions

An official investigation into a separate firm established by Conte, Balco, resulted in the guilty verdicts of Marion Jones, competitive biker Thomas, and retired NFL player Stubblefield, in addition to coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte's Admissions and Prison Time

The Balco founder, who completed several months in a federal facility for illegal drug sales, discussed frankly about his well-known clients. He appeared on TV to assert he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Jones use a syringe with HGH, but consistently avoided incriminating Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

Sport's Official Review

This probe inspired the book titled Game of Shadows. A week after the release of the book in 2006, the sport's chief Bud Selig hired ex-senator George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

Conte stated he distributed steroids known as two specific substances and coached on their use to dozens of top performers, including Giambi, a star player, according to the report.

Employing banned drugs poses a serious threat to the integrity of the competition,” the report stated. “Widespread use by players of these compounds puts at a disadvantage the honest athletes who refuse to use them and creates doubts about the accuracy of historical stats.”

Mitchell indicated the problems took time to emerge. The report emphasized everyone involved in baseball in the preceding decades – covering leaders, club officials, the union and players – were partly accountable for what he termed the PED epoch.

How It Began

The government's case into the laboratory was initiated by a revenue officer examining the corporate garbage. He eventually confessed to two of the numerous counts filed against him in 2005 ahead of a court case. Several of the individuals found guilty were ensnared for lying to grand jurors.

Further Legal Actions

Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, admitted guilt to steroid distribution charges stemming from his Balco connections. The court gave him to a quarter year in prison and an equal period of house arrest.

Bonds' Legal Battles

Bonds was accused of deceiving a federal jury about using PEDs and went on trial in that year. The case was dismissed the case four years later when the prosecutors opted not to appeal an reversed conviction to the federal apex court.

A multiple MVP winner and star performer, he retired after the that season with a record home run tally, breaking the milestone of Aaron's total that Hank Aaron established from 1954-76. Bonds denied intentionally taking performance-enhancing drugs but has never been elected to the sport's hall of honor.

Later Years

Conte told the Associated Press in a past conversation that “sportspeople break rules to succeed, but the officials and lawyers engage in misconduct as well.” He also questioned whether the conclusions in such legal cases were worth the resources.

Post-incarceration, he returned to work in 2007 by reviving a nutritional supplements business he had started two decades earlier called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He set up shop in the very same place that previously contained Balco in Burlingame.

Continued Justification

He continued to justify about his key part in doling out designer steroids to elite athletes. He claimed he simply helped “even the competition” in a world teeming with doping athletes.

Critical Perspectives

To a WADA member, a former participant of the WADA, Conte was essentially pushing cocaine or heroin. “This involves blatant drug dealing. It's about drug consumption in defiance of legal codes,” the doctor remarked in that period. “This isn't charity and this is not some do-gooding. It's illegal sales.”