Victor Conte Jr. (born 1950) is an American businessman and former musician best known as the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO), a sports nutrition center that became central to a major doping scandal. Before founding BALCO in 1984, Conte had a music career, playing bass with the funk/R&B group Tower of Power from 1977 to 1979. BALCO gained infamy after Conte admitted to developing the banned steroid "The Clear" and running doping programs that impacted numerous high-profile athletes, including five-time Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones. In July 2005, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering, resulting in a four-month prison sentence and four months of house arrest. Following his release, Conte continued in the nutrition industry, operating Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning (SNAC Nutrition), and later published a book detailing the BALCO scandal.