The Balco mastermind, Central Player in Infamous Sports Doping Controversy, Dies at 75.

The man behind the scheme, who masterminded a system to distribute hard-to-detect performance-enhancing drugs to elite sports stars featuring MLB legends Giambi and Bonds and track and field star Jones years back, is deceased. His age was 75.

Federal Investigation and Convictions

An official probe of an additional venture set up by him, the Bay Area lab, culminated in the guilty verdicts of Marion Jones, competitive biker Tammy Thomas, and retired NFL player Dana Stubblefield, along with trainers, suppliers, chemists, attorneys, and coaches.

Public Statements and Sentencing

He, who served four months in federal prison for steroid distribution, spoke openly about his high-profile athletes. He went on TV to state he had seen three-time Olympic medalist Jones use a syringe with growth hormones, but consistently avoided pointing the finger at Bonds, the Giants power hitter.

Sport's Official Review

This probe resulted in the book titled Game of Shadows. Shortly after the release of the book in that year, MLB commissioner Selig brought on former senate majority leader Mitchell to investigate steroids.

He revealed he provided steroids called “the cream” and “the clear” and guided their usage to many elite athletes, such as Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

“The illegal use of performance-enhancing substances represents a major risk to the fairness of the game,” the report stated. “Widespread use by competitors of such substances unfairly disadvantages the those who refuse to cheat who avoid them and creates doubts about the legitimacy of baseball records.”

Mitchell indicated the problems were not sudden. He said all parties in professional baseball in the preceding decades – including commissioners, management, the union and athletes themselves – bore partial blame for what he called the doping period.

Case Inception

The federal investigation into the company was initiated by a IRS investigator searching the company’s trash. The defendant eventually confessed to a couple of the 42 charges filed against him in that year ahead of a court case. Several of the individuals found guilty were caught deceiving grand jurors.

Associated Convictions

His fitness instructor Anderson, confessed to illegal substance sales arising from his Balco connections. Anderson was sentenced to 90 days in jail and the same duration of restricted movement.

Bonds' Legal Battles

Bonds was charged with deceiving a grand jury about using performance-enhancing drugs and faced a trial in 2011. Prosecutors dropped the charges down the line when the government decided not to appeal an overturned ruling to the highest court.

A decorated player and frequent All-Star, he ended his career after the 2007 season with a record home run tally, exceeding the record of that number that Aaron achieved from the 1950s to 1970s. He claimed he did not knowingly using banned substances but has never been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

After Incarceration

The former convict told the Associated Press in a 2010 discussion that “competitors do cheat to win, but the federal representatives also bend the rules.” He doubted whether the results in such proceedings were worth the resources.

After serving his sentence, he got back in business in 2007 by resuscitating a health products venture he had launched years before called his supplements brand. He operated in the very same place that once housed Balco in Burlingame.

Defiant Stance

The controversial figure stayed unrepentant about his central role in providing custom PEDs to elite athletes. He maintained he simply helped “balance the odds” in a world teeming with doping athletes.

Outside Views

To Dr Gary Wadler, a former participant of the global anti-doping body, he may as well have been distributing cocaine or heroin. “This involves unlawful substance distribution. It's about using drugs in defiance of legal codes,” the doctor remarked in the past. “This is not philanthropy and this is not some do-gooding. This is drug dealing.”