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Victor Conte, architect of a scheme to provide undetectable performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes, including baseball stars barry bondsJason Giambi and Marion Jones, the Olympic track champion from decades ago, have died. He was 75 years old.
Conte died on Monday, SNAC Systems, the sports nutrition company he founded, said in a social media post. The cause of his death was not disclosed.
A federal government investigation of Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, another company founded by Conte, indicted Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and the former. nfl Defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.
The investigation led to the book “Game of Shadows”. A week after the book was published in 2006, baseball commissioner Bud Selig hired former management committee majority leader George Mitchell To check for steroids.
Mitchell reports that Conte said he sold steroids known as “Cream” and “Clear” and advised their use to dozens of elite athletes, including five-time major league All-Star Giambi.
The federal investigation of BALCO began with a tax agent examining the company’s waste.
Conte pleaded guilty to two of the 42 charges against him before trial in 2005 and served a four-month sentence in a minimum-security prison. Six of the 11 indicted were indicted on charges of lying to grand jurors, federal investigators or the court.
Greg Anderson, personal trainer of star slugger Bonds, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges stemming from his BALCO connection. Anderson was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of home confinement.
bond He was accused of lying to a grand jury about receiving performance-enhancing drugs and stood trial in 2011. Prosecutors dropped the case after four years when the government decided not to appeal the conviction for obstruction of justice to the Supreme Court.
A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds ended his career after the 2007 season with 762 homers, surpassing the record of 755 set by Hank Aaron from 1954–76. Bonds denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs but was never elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bonds did not respond to an email seeking comment.
“Yes, athletes cheat to win, but government agents and prosecutors also cheat to win,” Conte told the Associated Press in a 2010 interview. He also questioned whether the results in such legal cases justified the effort.
Conte’s attorney, Robert Holley, did not respond to an email seeking comment. SNAC Systems did not respond to a message sent through the company’s website.
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Associated Press writer Jenny McCauley contributed to this report.