Victor Conte, Central Player in Infamous Sports Doping Controversy, Succumbs at Age 75.
The man behind the scheme, who engineered a operation to supply undetectable banned substances to professional athletes featuring MLB legends Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Jones in the past, has passed away. His age was 75.
Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases
The federal government's investigation into an additional venture established by Conte, Balco, led to the guilty verdicts of Jones, competitive biker Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Stubblefield, in addition to coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.
Public Statements and Legal Consequences
The Balco founder, who spent four months in federal prison for dealing steroids, talked publicly about his well-known clients. He appeared on broadcast media to claim he had observed decorated Olympian Jones self-administer with growth hormones, but always refrained from pointing the finger at Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.
Sport's Official Review
The federal case led to the book Game of Shadows. Shortly after the publication date in that year, MLB commissioner Selig brought on political figure Mitchell to investigate steroids.
Conte stated he distributed steroids referred to as “the cream” and “the clear” and coached on their usage to numerous elite athletes, such as Jason Giambi, a star player, according to the report.
Using banned drugs represents a major risk to the honesty of the sport,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Prevalent consumption by athletes of these compounds puts at a disadvantage the those who refuse to cheat who avoid them and creates doubts about the validity of sporting achievements.”
Mitchell indicated the problems were not sudden. The report emphasized everyone involved in the sport in the prior two decades – including commissioners, management, the representative body and athletes themselves – were partly accountable for what he labeled the PED epoch.
Case Inception
The federal investigation into Balco began with a tax agent digging through the business refuse. The defendant ended up pleading guilty to a pair of the numerous counts he faced in 2005 prior to court proceedings. Half a dozen of the 11 convicted people were ensnared for misleading the court.
Further Legal Actions
His fitness instructor Greg Anderson, admitted guilt to illegal substance sales linked to his Balco connections. He received a sentence to a quarter year in incarceration and an equal period of house arrest.
His Court Proceedings
Bonds was charged with lying to a grand jury about using performance-enhancing drugs and stood trial in that year. Prosecutors dropped the case down the line when the government decided not to appeal an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the supreme court.
A multiple MVP winner and frequent All-Star, he ended his career after the 2007 season with 762 home runs, surpassing the milestone of 755 that Hank Aaron set from 1954-76. He claimed he did not consciously consuming PEDs but has never been elected to the Hall of Fame.
Conte's Post-Prison Life
He stated in an interview in a 2010 interview that “competitors do cheat to triumph, but the federal representatives cheat to win, too.” He also questioned whether the conclusions in these trials justified the effort.
Following his prison term, he returned to work in the late 2000s by rebooting a nutritional supplements business he had founded years before called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He set up shop in the same building that once housed his former lab in Burlingame, California.
Defiant Stance
Conte stayed unrepentant about his key part in distributing tailored drugs to top sports stars. He maintained he simply helped “balance the odds” in a world full of rule-breakers.
Critical Perspectives
To an expert, a then-member of the global anti-doping body, he was essentially distributing cocaine or heroin. “It concerns unlawful substance distribution. This refers to drug consumption in defiance of legal codes,” he stated in the past. “It's not a good deed and not a benevolent act. It's trafficking.”