BALCO Founder Conte Gets Eight Months

By DAVID KRAVETS

SAN FRANCISCO – Victor Conte was sentenced to eight months Tuesday as part of a plea deal for his role as mastermind behind a scheme to provide professional athletes with undetectable performance-enhancing drugs.

Conte, who will spend four months in prison and four months in home confinement, started the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, which, according to court records, counted dozens of prominent athletes among its clients, including Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Marion Jones and others. The case prompted pro sports to stiffen steroid policies and thrust performance-enhancing drugs into the spotlight. THG, a once-unknown steroid discovered in the investigation, is now banned throughout sports.

Conte pleaded guilty in July to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge; dozens of counts were dropped.

James Valente, BALCO’s vice president, was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to reduced charges of steroid distribution. Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds’ trainer, was sentenced to six months after pleading guilty to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge. He must spend three months behind bars and three months in home confinement.

Anderson and Conte, who remain free on bond, are scheduled to surrender to prison authorities Dec. 1.

U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan in San Francisco has said the plea deals were spurred in part by weak steroid laws and by the fact that some of the chemicals were not banned at the time.

Track coach Remi Korchemny is expected to get probation at a later sentencing date.

Still, authorities are now taking aim at the alleged BALCO suppliers.

Last month, the authorities raided a laboratory in Champaign, Ill., headed by Patrick Arnold, who’s known for introducing the steroid precursor androstenedione to the U.S. Andro came to public attention in 1998 when St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire said he used it when breaking baseball’s home run record.

The case is United States. v. Conte, 04-0044.

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David Kravets has been covering state and federal courts for more than a decade.