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Victor Conte, the founder of BALCO who led a scheme to provide undetectable performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes like Major League Baseball stars Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Marion Jones years ago, has died. He was 75. Conte died Monday, SNAC System, a sports nutrition company he founded, said in a social media post. The organization did not reveal Conte’s cause of death. RELATED: Why was Pete Rose banned from baseball? What to know after MLB's hit king reinstated "We are Heartbroken by the Passing of our Fearless Leader, SNAC Mastermind | SNAC CEO | Anti-Doping Advocate | Creator of ZMA® | Former Tower of Power and Herbie Hancock Bassist, Victor Conte," SNAC wrote in an X post. "We will Honor his Wishes. SNAC and his Legacy will Carry Forward, Strong and Forever. We LOVE you, Conte!" Conte steroid investigation Dig deeper: The federal government launched a probe into another company Conte founded, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), which resulted in convictions of Jones, cyclist Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and an attorney, the Associated Press reported. Conte served four months in federal prison for dealing steroids and discussed his famous former clients. He went on television to say he had seen three-time Olympic medalist Jones inject herself with human growth hormone, but always stopped short of implicating Bonds, the San Francisco Giants superstar. RELATED: Venezuelan baseball team denied US visas for Little League tournament The investigation also led to the book "Game of Shadows." and then-baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hired former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to investigate steroids. Conte said he sold steroids known as "the cream" and "the clear" and informed athletes, including major league All-Star Jason Giambi, on their use to dozens of elite athletes, the AP noted, citing the Mitchell report. Conte later pleaded guilty to charges against him in 2005 before trial. Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges related to his ties to BALCO. The AP reported that Bonds was charged with lying to a grand jury about receiving performance-enhancing drugs and went on trial in 2011. Prosecutors dropped the case four years later when the government decided not to appeal an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the Supreme Court. When Conte completed his jail sentence, he went into business in 2007 and revived a nutritional supplements business started 20 years earlier called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System.
