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Former harness trainer Richard Allen “Rick” Dane Jr., was sentenced to 30 months in a federal prison Sept. 9. He had previously entered a guilty plea to one felony count related to the 2020 international racehorse doping conspiracy sting that has already netted two dozen related convictions or guilty pleas.

Dane, 41, has additionally been ordered to pay a monetary judgement of $33,912. As part of a plea bargain, a second felony charge against Dane was dropped.

Dane is to report to prison Jan. 9, 2023-the same day that the last remaining high-profile defendant in the case, the barred trainer Jason Servis, is set to begin his trial.

But with respect to the plea bargaining that took place, federal prosecutors and Dane differed as to how useful to the government his cooperation actually was.

United States attorneys detailed in a court filing that after his March 2020 arrest, Dane made initial attempts to cooperate with them by providing information related to the cases of other defendants.

But by early 2022, the feds wrote, “The Government determined that the defendant was not completely forthcoming, and thus was unable to provide 'substantial assistance.'”

On that basis, prosecutors did not extend a cooperation agreement to Dane, who then pleaded guilty on Feb. 18.

According to the government's sentencing submission, Dane “joined in a conspiracy with Lisa Giannelli and, by extension, Seth Fishman and others at Equestology that he knew was wrong and illegal.

“The defendant not only purchased performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and prescription drugs from Giannelli that he was using to dope his horses, the defendant also served as a trusted resource for Giannelli by providing background on potential new clients who could be considered 'trustworthy.'

“One of the means by which Dane's co-conspirators evaded detection was by vetting buyers to ensure they would be discreet and would not report Equestology to relevant racing and drug regulatory authorities, or otherwise act recklessly and invite scrutiny of Equestology's drugs,” prosecutors wrote.

“Dane facilitated these efforts by providing Giannelli with background information on such individuals. The defendant consistently purchased adulterated and misbranded PEDs from Giannelli and others, all in efforts to corruptly dope his racehorses and earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in purse winnings,” the feds wrote.

The government had recommended that “a sentence slightly below the Guidelines Sentence of 36 months' imprisonment is appropriate to serve the purposes of sentencing when balancing all the factors relevant to the defendant's guilt, including the relatively limited role he played in facilitating Equestology's operations as compared to Seth Fishman and Lisa Giannelli, both of whom had more extensive involvement in the promotion and sale of Equestology's drugs, and who partook in their offense conduct for a significantly longer period of time.”

Fishman was sentenced in July to an 11-year prison stint, and an appeal is in the works. The day prior to Dane's sentencing, on Sept. 8, the same federal judge sentenced Giannelli to 3 1/2 years behind bars.

Dane's own sentencing submission written by his legal team offered a different perspective, while asking for a more lenient sentence “that is below the guidelines due to the extraordinary mitigation present in Mr. Dane's life.”

Dane's lawyers wrote that, “Since he was 16 years old, Mr. Dane has worked with at various tracks as a farrier and horse trainer. He loves working with horses and is passionate about his career. Mr. Dane always put the horses before himself and worked hard to ensure that his horses were cared for.”

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The federal government's crackdown on horse doping notched another courthouse win May 6 with a jury finding Lisa Giannelli guilty of conspiracy to misbrand and adulterate drugs after an eight-day trial.

The jury of eight men and four women in U.S. District Court in New York returned the verdict after less than two hours of deliberations spanning two days.

Giannelli, 55, of Felton, Del., faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison at her sentencing Sept. 8 before Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil.

The jurors rejected Giannelli's testimony in which she defended her actions selling medications for veterinarian Dr. Seth Fishman when she was his employee for 18 years at Florida-based Equestology.

As part of their verdict, the jury also agreed that Giannelli's intent was to defraud and mislead.

New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, “For almost two decades, Lisa Giannelli peddled untestable performance-enhancing drugs to give racehorse trainers the tools to dope racehorses. As a former standardbred racehorse trainer, Giannelli knew firsthand the dangers of selling illegal, injectable performance-enhancing drugs to trainers who were recklessly injecting horses to gain a competitive edge. The jury's swift conviction demonstrates the gravity of Giannelli's criminal scheme. This Office remains committed to holding accountable those who would engage in the kind of fraud and animal abuse exemplified by Giannelli's crimes.”

Giannelli stood at the defense table and turned towards the jury during the reading of the verdict. She was wearing a mask and had no visible reaction. She remains free on a $100,000 bond.

She rushed out of the courtroom with her husband.

“I'm disappointed,” defense attorney Louis Fasulo said. He plans to file a motion challenging the verdict.

The charges against Giannelli grew out of a lengthy FBI investigation into horse doping at Thoroughbred and harness race tracks two years ago that resulted in the indictments of more than two dozen people.

Just before announcing their verdict, the jury came to the courtroom to inspect a seized drug bottle that the government introduced into evidence during the trial.

The bottle was labeled BB3 which prosecutors said was a misbranded and adulterated PED designed to boost a horse's red blood cells.

Ten jurors walked past the bottle before two stopped to inspect the bottle with gloved hands.

“The government's case was very strong,” juror Joe Coughlan, 56, of Valley Cottage, N.Y., said after the verdict. “It was a preponderance of the evidence. I couldn't see any other verdict but guilty.”

Coughlan said it's “obviously not a good thing” that horses were being doped at race tracks.

“That amounts to cheating,” he said.

He said he had no idea how extensive the problem was until the trial.

“It's a sport and you've got bettors who are relying on everything being okay,” he said. “You want things to be above board. If they are not, what do you do?”

Prosecutors said the products Giannelli distributed for Fishman were illegal substances meant to enhance a horse's performance while being undetectable in tests conducted by racing authorities after races.

Fishman, a Florida veterinarian, was found guilty at his own trial in February. His sentencing is May 26.

Since the initial indictments, the number of defendants has grown to 31.

Of those 14 have pleaded guilty including two former harness trainers who became government witnesses against Giannelli.

Two other defendants agreed to deferred prosecution agreements.

Defendants with charges still pending include the prominent trainer Jason Servis, whose 3-year-old Maximum Security finished first in the 2019 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and then was disqualified for interfering with another horse during the race.

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