Victor Conte, the founder of BALCO, a company that was embroiled in a major drug scandal that involved professional baseball players and track athletes, died on Monday at 75.
Conte’s family and SNAC, a sports nutrition firm he led, confirmed news of his death. His company announced in June that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
“We are heartbroken by the passing of our fearless leader, SNAC mastermind, CEO, anti-doping advocate, creator of ZMA, former Tower of Power and Herbie Hancock bassist, Victor Conte,” a post from SNAC said social media. “We will honor his wishes. SNAC and his legacy will carry forward, strong and forever. We love you, Conte!”
Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, a supplement company he founded, was embroiled in the intersection of sports and law enforcement after it was revealed in 2003 that Conte was the mastermind behind a sophisticated performance-enhancing scheme involving top athletes in baseball like Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, boxing and track star Marion Jones.
According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Conte teamed up with chemist Patrick Arnold and developed tetrahydrogestrinone, which was known by the nickname The Clear. It is a synthetic and orally active anabolic–androgenic steroid designed as a substance that would not be detected by drug testing methods at the time since it was a new compound.
Personal trainer Greg Anderson distributed the steroid among athletes, quickly helping BALCO build its client base — and reputation.
By 2003, a federal raid and investigation of BALCO rattled the sports world when it was revealed that many high-profile athletes were tied to Conte.
Major League Baseball, in particular, was notable impacted when Bonds and Giambi were among the bigger names who emerged from the investigation and led to a wider crackdown of players who allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs as illustrated in the Mitchell Report in 2007.
Conte would be indicted on 42 charges with Arnold, Anderson, track coach Remi Korchemny and BALCO vice president James Valente all pleading guilty to various crimes ranging from distribution of steroids to money laundering.
But Conte only pleaded guilty to two of the 42 charges in 2005 and served four months in a minimum-security prison.
Meanwhile, Bonds, Jones and Tim Montgomery — her partner at the time — were convicted on charges of lying to authorities, with an obstruction of justice conviction against Bonds later being overturned.
The fallout ended the careers of Jones and Montgomery, and Jones would later be stripped of the three gold medals and two bronze medals she won at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Jones would serve six months in prison after admitting to lying to federal agents under oath about her illegal substance use leading up to the Sydney Games and avoided a five year sentence as part of a plea agreement.
The ordeal rocked track and field and extended beyond Jones and Montgomery as Kelli White, Dwain Chambers, Michelle Collins, Chryste Gaines, Alvin Harrison, his twin brother Calvin, Regina Jacobs, C.J. Hunter, Dwight Thomas and Eric Thomas were all implicated, and faced a range of sanctions and bans.
Conte said in a 2004 interview with Martin Bashir that he ran complex doping operations that reached deep into the Olympics.
“It’s almost like what I’m here to tell you right now is that not only is there no Santa Claus, but there’s no Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy either,” Conte said. “The Olympic Games are a fraud. The whole history of the games is just full of corruption, cover-up, performance-enhancing drug use. It’s not what the world thinks it is.”
In the decade beyond the BALCO scandal, Conte repositioned himself as an anti-doping advocate and established SNAC in 2011 as a “science-driven” supplement company.