🔗 Share this article

The man behind the scheme, who masterminded a system to supply hard-to-detect PEDs to professional athletes such as MLB legends Giambi and Bonds and sprinting gold medalist Marion Jones years back, is deceased. He reached 75 years.

Federal Investigation and Criminal Cases

An official investigation into an additional venture established by Conte, the Bay Area lab, led to the criminal findings of Jones, top track cyclist Tammy Thomas, and retired NFL player Dana Stubblefield, along with various support personnel and professionals.

Public Statements and Prison Time

Conte, who spent a third of a year in a federal facility for steroid distribution, talked publicly about his well-known clients. He appeared on television to claim he had witnessed triple Olympic champion Marion Jones inject herself with human growth hormones, but never directly pointing the finger at Barry Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Baseball's Investigation

This probe inspired the book Game of Shadows. Just days following the book's publication in 2006, the sport's chief Bud Selig appointed ex-senator George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

He admitted he distributed steroids called certain undetectable drugs and coached on their application to numerous top performers, like Jason Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

Using banned drugs poses a serious threat to the integrity of the competition,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Prevalent consumption by players of these compounds unfairly disadvantages the clean players who refuse to use them and leads to skepticism about the validity of baseball records.”

The report noted the issues were not sudden. The report emphasized each participant in professional baseball in the preceding decades – including commissioners, team executives, the representative body and athletes themselves – shared some responsibility for what he termed the doping period.

How It Began

The government's case into the company started when a revenue officer searching the business refuse. Conte ended up pleading guilty to a pair of the 42 charges filed against him in 2005 ahead of a court case. Six of the defendants sentenced were caught lying to the court.

Related Cases

The athlete's coach Anderson, admitted guilt to steroid distribution charges linked to his involvement with Balco. The court gave him to three months in prison and the same duration of home confinement.

The Slugger's Case

The baseball legend was charged with providing false statements to a federal jury about obtaining banned substances and went on trial in 2011. The government abandoned the charges after several years when the government decided not to appeal an reversed conviction to the highest court.

A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, he retired after the 2007 season with 762 home runs, exceeding the milestone of Aaron's total that Aaron achieved from 1954-76. He claimed he did not intentionally taking PEDs but has not been voted to the Hall of Fame.

Later Years

The former convict told the Associated Press in a 2010 interview that “competitors do cheat to win, but the federal representatives engage in misconduct as well.” He doubted whether the outcomes in these trials merited the work.

After serving his sentence, he returned to work in that year by reviving a nutritional supplements business he had launched years before called SNAC System. He operated in the same building that was home to Balco in Burlingame.

Continued Justification

Conte remained defiant about his central role in doling out tailored drugs to top sports stars. He argued he simply helped “level the playing field” in a world full of cheaters.

Expert Opinions

To an expert, a then-member of the WADA, he may as well have been pushing cocaine or heroin. “You are talking about totally illegal drug trafficking. It's about substance use in violation of federal law,” he stated in the past. “It's not a good deed and not a benevolent act. It's trafficking.”