Central figure in steroids scandal involving elite pros

Victor Conte, the architect of a scheme to provide undetectable performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes, including baseball stars Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, has died. He was 75.

- By AuDREY McAvoy

Conte died Monday, SNAC System, a sports nutrition company he founded, said ina social media post. It did not disclose his cause of death.

‘The federal government’s investigation into another company Conte founded, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, yielded convictions of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte, who served four months in federal prison for dealing steroids, talked openly about 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 slugger.

The investigation led to the book “Game of Shadows.” A week after the book was published in 2006, 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 advised ontheiruse to dozens of elite athletes, including Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.