Brandon Simpson | Horse Racing Free Tips

Two assistants to a pair of already-convicted Standardbred trainers in the 2020 racehorse doping conspiracy scandal avoided prison terms beyond their time already served on Wednesday when a judge in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) sentenced them each to two years of supervised release and joint responsibility for monetary penalties. Both had cooperated with authorities in obtaining the convictions of others in the network, according to court documents.

Conor Flynn, who worked for the former trainer Richard Banca, pleaded guilty to one felony count of drug alteration and misbranding conspiracy, with two similar felony charges against him dropped, according to the court docket.

Brandon Simpson, who worked for the former trainer Renee Allard, pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. via drug alteration and misbranding conspiracy, the docket stated.

According to a pre-sentencing report filed by his counsel, Flynn “timely accepted full responsibility for his ill-advised actions in a horse doping scheme organized by his then-employer and direct supervisor, Richard Banca [and] Dr. Louis Grasso, a licensed veterinarian who treated horses trained by Banca.

“Although Conor participated in the scheme, he played a minor role. Conor did not devise the scheme. Conor did not profit from the scheme, did not expect to profit from the scheme, and did not receive a raise or bonus in exchange for his participation in the scheme,” Flynn's court filing continued. “Squarely put, Conor, an unsophisticated young man with only a high school diploma, who desperately wanted to move up into Banca and Dr. Grasso's prominent horse racing circle, simply got caught up in Banca and Dr. Grasso's culture of misdeeds, ill-gotten power, and greed.”

According to a pre-sentence report filed by his counsel, Simpson admitted that he “assisted Mr. Allard in administering performance-enhancing drugs on a day of a race to enhance a horses race performance. In addition, Mr. Simpson also assisted in obtaining prescription drugs that were obtained without valid prescriptions, and those drugs were administered to racehorses in violation of the applicable racing rules and regulations.

“Significantly, Mr. Simpson does not hide from his illegal conduct. In fact, it is quite the opposite,” Simpson's court filing continued. “Mr. Simpson, after being contacted by authorities, agreed to cooperate with federal agents and prosecutors in an attempt to assist them in their efforts against other individuals and he did so knowing that it was the right thing to do in order to help in some way to right his wrongful behavior.”

The judgment on the court docket stated that Flynn must pay $16,220,794 in restitution that is “joint and several” with Bianca and a $129,975 forfeiture that is “joint and several” with Grasso.

Simpson's judgment stated that he must pay $31,435,782 restitution that is “joint and several” with Grasso and a $628,553 forfeiture that is “joint and several” with Allard.

Grasso in 2022 got sentenced to 50 months in federal prison. Banca was sentenced to 30 months. Allard got 27 months.

The post Assistants to Convicted Harness Trainers Avoid Prison in 2020 Doping Conspiracy Sentencings appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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In the case involving high-profile thoroughbred trainers Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis and more than two dozen others, Standardbred horseman Brandon Simpson has pled guilty to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding conspiracy for his role in a scheme to provide horses with performance-enhancing drugs.

What makes the Simpson case unusual is that his guilty plea came some three years after the original charges against Navarro, Servis et. al. were unsealed and there was no mention of Simpson's name in the indictments released at that time. Court records released this week show that Simpson came to the government's attention as early as mid-November, 2020 when the government and Simpson's attorneys agreed on a bail package. What happened over the next several months and why was Simpson's name omitted from the original indictment remain unanswered questions. The Simpson development also raises the question as to whether or not more new names will surface in the near future when it comes to those being indicted as part of the drugging scandal.

Simpson both trained and drove, winning 1,643 races as a driver and 375 as a trainer. He last drove in 2017 and it appears that around that time he accepted a job as an assistant to trainer Rene Allard. Allard is among the bigger names caught up in the scandal and is currently serving a 27-month prison sentence after he previously plead guilty to one felony count of misbranding and altering drugs.

In a particularly troubling chapter in the Allard scandal, the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted a phone conversation in which two other alleged conspirators discussed the deaths of horses trained by Allard after they had been given illegal drugs. One reference caught on wiretap described the trainer's operation as the “Allard death camp.”

Court documents released this week detailed Simpson's activities, which included purchasing drugs at a pharmacy in South Carolina and then shipping them to a training center located in the Southern District of New York. Simpson also, the government claims, “administered prescription drugs to racehorses under Simpson's and others' control without a valid veterinary prescription, for the purposes of enhancing the horses' race performance.”

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