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Servis Negotiating with Feds for Plea Bargain

The barred trainer Jason Servis, the final–and most notoriously prominent–defendant awaiting a trial or sentencing in the 2020 racehorse doping conspiracy scandal, is negotiating with federal prosecutors for a plea bargain agreement to adjudicate the three felony drug misbranding and fraud conspiracy charges he is facing for allegedly drugging almost all the Thoroughbreds under his care in 2019.

The disclosure was revealed late Friday afternoon in an otherwise routine court filing asking for an extension of time to file motions in Servis's upcoming trial, which has a Jan. 9 start date.

“The Government and counsel for defendant Jason Servis are currently in discussions regarding a potential pre-trial disposition, which may obviate the need for trial,” wrote United States Attorney Damian Williams in his letter to the court.

The request for extra time was granted by Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of United States District Court (Southern District of New York).

The Dec. 2 filing also referenced a change-of-plea hearing that same judge had granted the day before to the New York-based veterinarian Alexander Chan, who is accused of his own trio of felony charges related to injecting purported performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) into Servis's horses and then hiding the charges from billing and veterinary records.

Chan, as part of his plea change, could very well implicate his former client, Servis, during his Dec. 5 hearing.

That's what another veterinarian who worked for Servis, Kristian Rhein, did in August 2021 when he changed his own plea to guilty on one felony count within the federal government's sprawling prosecution of an allegedly years-long conspiracy to dope racehorses. Rhein got the maximum sentence of three years imprisonment for his crimes.

Chan and Servis were scheduled to be tried together next month.

“In light of the foregoing, the parties respectfully contend that a brief adjournment of the upcoming deadline [to file motions] will facilitate the parties' ongoing efforts to reach a resolution short of trial,” Williams wrote to the judge.

The feds have already disclosed they have a trove of wiretapped evidence involving Servis speaking about his doping regimens to Rhein, Chan, and the now-imprisoned trainer Jorge Navarro, who in December 2021 was sentenced to five years behind bars for his rampant criminal usage of equine PEDs.

Some of those secretly recorded phone conversations involved the MGISW Maximum Security, who crossed the wire first in the GI Kentucky Derby, but was DQ'd for in-race interference.

One of the elixirs of choice for both Servis and Navarro was SGF-1000, a custom-made, purported PED intended to promote tissue repair and increase a racehorse's stamina and endurance beyond its natural capability. The two trainers discussed this PED in an intercepted call on March 5, 2019. The transcript reads as such:

Servis: I'll tell you what, Jorge. I'm using that [expletive] shot. What is it, SGF?

Navarro: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I got, uh, I got more than 12 horses on that so I'll let you know, okay?

Servis: I've been using it on everything, almost.

Navarro: Jay, we'll sit down and talk about this [expletive]. I don't want to talk about this [expletive] on the phone, okay?

Servis: All right. You're right.

On June 5, 2019, a call between Servis and Rhein went like this, according to the feds:

Servis: Are you by yourself?

Rhein: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just walked out of the barn.

Servis: Hey. So they've been doing some out-of-competition testing, which I have no problem with. Um, they took Maximum Security Monday and they came back again today. But Monday he got the KS. I just want to make sure we are all good with that.

Rhein: Wait, what did he get?

Servis: I'm sorry, I said “KS.” The, you know, your shot. The…

Rhein: Oh, the SG.

Servis: Yeah, that stuff.

Rhein: Yeah-no, no, no. The Jockey Club tested it, and I met the guy who tested it way back when. It comes back as collagen. They don't even have a test for it.

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Jordan Fishman Wants Prison Delay

Two weeks before he's supposed to report to federal prison to serve a 15-month sentence, Jordan Fishman, the convicted Massachusetts-based drug formulator who made illicit substances that were later injected into racehorses, asked the judge to delay his reporting date by one month.

The reason? More than 2 1/2 months after his sentencing, the Bureau of Prisons still hasn't told Fishman which facility he's supposed to turn himself in to May 9.

Fishman also wants the judge to consider a pandemic-related health concern that would give him an extra month of freedom.

Patrick Jouyce, Fishman's attorney, articulated his client's concerns in a one-page letter filed Apr. 25 in United States District Court (Southern District of New York).

“I also regret to inform the Court that Jordan's ex-wife, with whom he works in close proximity at his business, has just contracted COVID-19 and in all likelihood, Defendant has as well even though as of today, he tested negative. For these reasons, Defendant respectfully requests that the Court adjourn Jordan's surrender date until June 9, 2022.

Back in October, Fishman, 64, had pleaded guilty to one count of adulteration and misbranding of purportedly performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

Jordan Fishman is unrelated to–but had a professional working relationship with–Seth Fishman, the convicted veterinarian who is awaiting sentencing and faces 20 years in prison for his role in the horse-doping conspiracy.

Lisa Giannelli, an assistant to Seth Fishman, was supposed to go on trial at the same time as Seth Fishman back in January. But she had her case declared a mistrial after her attorney tested positive for COVID-19. Her new trial begins Apr. 27.

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Jordan Fishman Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison

Jordan Fishman, the Massachusetts-based drug formulator who made the illicit substances that were then injected into racehorses by the likes of convicted horse doper Jorge Navarro and the accused doper Jason Servis, got sentenced to 15 months in federal prison Tuesday for his role in the international drugging conspiracy.

Back in October, Fishman, 64, had pleaded guilty to one count of adulteration and misbranding of purportedly performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). He faced a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Instead, Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of United States District Court (Southern District of New York) incarcerated Fishman for a time frame squarely in the middle of the prosecution's advised range of 12 to 18 months. Fishman's legal team had argued for a sentence of probation only.

Beyond a $100 court assessment, Fishman was not fined or ordered to pay restitution to victims. He must report to a to-be-determined prison May 9. The court has recommended Devens, the federal correctional facility that is closest to his home.

Jordan Fishman—described by his legal team in a Jan. 24 sentencing document as “a brilliant scientist who went to college at age 16 and holds PhDs in Biochemistry and Carcinogenesis/Toxicology”— is not related to the veterinarian Seth Fishman, who faces 20 years in prison after being found guilty Feb. 2 on two counts of conspiring to violate adulteration and misbranding laws.

But the black-market scientist had previously admitted in court that he was an integral part of the convicted drug-dealing veterinarian's conspiracy.

“Seth Fishman provided the materials and formula requests,” Jordan Fishman told the judge when he pleaded guilty Oct. 6, 2021. “And then I made the solutions consistent with those formulas.”

Jordan Fishman said that between 2017 and his arrest in March 2020, the various substances he created contained vitamins, amino acids, nutraceuticals, and, at times, steroids.

Here's how the feds summed up Jordan Fishman's involvement in their own sentencing submission Feb. 1:

“As with other defendants in this matter, it is not the case that the defendant's crime was the result of a single lapse in judgment. Jordan Fishman brought to bear his specialized training, experience, and his access to a laboratory capable of manufacturing drugs at a large scale.

“His contributions to the conspiracy were crucial for the time period in which Jordan Fishman joined in the conspiracy. The defendant may have taken false comfort in holding the end user at arm's length as justification for continuing his crimes. But Jordan Fishman was under no illusions as to the intent of the conspiracy, or his role within it.”

The alleged international “corrupt scheme” to manufacture, mislabel, rebrand, distribute, and administer PEDs to racehorses all across America and in international races began with a blitz of coordinated Federal Bureau of Investigation arrests nationwide on Mar. 9, 2020.

In March 2021, the guilty-pleading Scott Robinson, a former veterinarian, was the first to be sentenced. Her got 18 months in prison and had to forfeit $3.8 million in profits.

In June, Sarah Izhaki was sentenced to time already served plus three years of supervised release for selling misbranded versions of Epogen.

In September, Scott Mangini, a former pharmacist who had pleaded guilty to one felony count related to creating custom drugs for racehorses, got sentenced to 18 months in prison. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors demanded a forfeiture of $8.1 million.

In December, the barred trainer Jorge Navarro wept in court after Vyskocil handed down a maximum-allowable sentence of five years imprisonment. Navarro had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring with others to administer non-FDA-approved, misbranded and adulterated drugs, including PEDs that Navarro believed would be untestable and undetectable. Navarro was also ordered to pay $25.8 million in restitution and could face deportation to Panama.

On Jan. 5, 2022, Kristian Rhein, a veterinarian formerly based at Belmont Park who was caught on a wiretap bragging about selling alleged PEDs, got sentenced to a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment after pleading guilty to one felony charge in the conspiracy to dope racehorses. Rhein also must forfeit to the U.S. the criminally gained proceeds that are directly traceable to his offense, which totaled $1.02 million, plus pay $729,716 in victims' restitution.

The following day, Rhein's brother-in-law, Michael Kegley Jr., the former sales director for a Kentucky-based company that marketed and sold the alleged PED known as SGF-1000, got sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding. He also got hit with a $3.3 million forfeiture (but will be exempt from that full amount of he pays $192,615 within two years of his release from prison).

Seth Fishman, his crimes detailed above, is scheduled to be sentenced May 5, barring an appeal.

Lisa Giannelli, an assistant to Seth Fishman, was supposed to go on trial at the same time as Seth Fishman, but she had her case declared a mistrial in January after her attorney tested positive for COVID-19. Federal prosecutors are in the process of trying to assign Giannelli to one of the two remaining trial groupings of alleged doping conspirators.

Jordan Fishman had already once squared off against Seth Fishman in court prior to his implicating the veterinarian in open court and the two later being found guilty for their crimes.

In May 2020, just weeks after the two were arrested in the federal doping sweep, Seth Fishman filed a federal lawsuit against Jordan Fishman and his Massachusetts-based company, 21^st Century Biochemicals, Inc.

That suit alleged that Seth Fishman had made $1 million in loans to Jordan Fishman's company over a period of years, and that in addition to allegedly not getting paid back, “Jordan, acting as the [president and majority shareholder of the firm] has also engaged in a scheme to defraud Plaintiff of his money.”

That case never went to trial. Both parties agreed to have it dismissed after reaching a settlement that involved the company paying $275,000 to Seth Fishman.

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Zulueta Changes Plea to Guilty

Trainer Marcos Zulueta joined the growing list of those involved in the Jason Servis-Jorge Navarro doping scandal to change their plea to guilty. Zulueta did so Friday when appearing via teleconference before federal judge Mary Kay Vyskocil. In doing so, Zulueta became the ninth of 27 people indicted in March of 2020 to plead guilty.

Having pleaded guilty to adulterating and misbranding drugs with the intent to defraud or mislead, he faces up to five years in prison and will be sentenced in February.

In the original indictment, Zulueta was closely linked to Jorge Navarro and was alleged to be involved in the doping program that involved the star sprinter X Y Jet (Kantharos). However, Navarro's name was noticeably absent from most of Friday's proceedings. Instead, Zulueta spoke of his relationship with alleged drug distributor Ross Cohen when asked by Vyskocil to explain what he had done to justify his guilty plea. Cohen was among those indicted last year but his name was not included when a superseding indictment was announced last November.

“I misbranded medicine from Ross Cohen,” said Zulueta, who struggled with his English throughout the hearing. “I gave it to my horses for them to perform in training. I don't remember the specific days I gave it to the horses but I did it.”

Zulueta said he started using medications he got from Cohen in 2019, but said he stopped a few months later because he found that the drugs were having no impact on his horses. He made no mention of his dealings with Navarro.

“I realized that my horses weren't getting any better,” he said. “I didn't see any results. The last two or three months before I got arrested, I wasn't using it.”

When asked by Vyskocil whether, at the time, he knew what he was doing was illegal, Zulueta replied: “Yes, your honor. I am prepared to pay for the mistakes I have made.”

Representing the government, attorney Sarah Mortazavi told the court that investigators had compiled mounds of evidence to make their case against Zulueta and singled out evidence that Zulueta was using a drug called “monkey,” which has similar characteristics to epogen.

According to the original indictment, Zulueta was among those who where obtaining, shipping and administering misbranded and adulterated PED's for Navarro's benefit. The evidence included an intercepted phone call from February 2019 in which Navarro and Zulueta discussed Navarro's need for a customized PED referred to as a “blocker.” Zulueta assured Navarro he could get the drug for him.

On another occasion, Zulueta cautions Navarro about winning too often.

“Yeah, you should be happy-happy-happy that you are not winning all of them,” Zulueta allegedly told Navarro. “Otherwise, you will be arrested.”

Zulueta started training in 2011 and quickly became a force at Parx. In the few months in 2020 before his arrest, he had 18 winners from 58 starters, good for a winning rate of 31%.

Three individuals who have pled guilty have been sentenced. Scott Robinson and Scott Mangini each got 18 months and Sarah Izhaki got time served.

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