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‘Holy Grail’ Of Drugs: Horse Doping Trial Of Veterinarian Fishman, Associate Begins

A New York federal jury heard opening statements Jan. 20 as the horse doping conspiracy trial of Dr. Seth Fishman and Lisa Giannelli got under way.

Prosecutor Anden Chow began by telling jurors that the defendants had operated a black market drug conspiracy for two decades.

He said Fishman and Giannelli created hundreds of drugs that were used to secretly dope race horses.

The drugs they produced were undetectable in post-racing testing, Chow said, so that trainers who were their customers could increase their chances of winning races by committing fraud.

“For two decades they did their best to avoid getting caught,” the prosecutor said. “They were successful until today.”

Fishman and Giannelli went on trial on charges of conspiring to misbrand and adulterate drugs, including performance-enhancing drugs used to dope horses at tracks across the country.

The opening statements came after a jury of eight women and four men was seated in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Fishman and Giannelli were among more than two dozen trainers, veterinarians, and others busted in 2020 in what prosecutors say is the most far-reaching prosecution of racehorse doping in U.S. Justice Department history. Among those charged was prominent trainer Jason Servis, whose Maximum Security finished first in the 2019 Kentucky Derby (G1) but was disqualified for interference. Servis has maintained a not guilty plea and is awaiting trial.

Fishman and Giannelli listened attentively as Chow and their attorneys addressed the jury. Each is free on $100,000 bail.

Chow was the first to address the jury.

He said that the world of horse racing was a highly lucrative business, making it tempting for some to dope horses to get an edge. He said to guard against this regulators established rules on what substances can be administered to horses and when.

“Fishman and Giannelli sold drugs to get around these rules,” Chow said.

The prosecutor said Fishman and Giannelli, who was his associate, had “hundreds of clients” and were “paid millions of dollars.”

One of the drugs Fishman manufactured boosted red blood cells in horses to increase endurance, Chow said.

He said Fishman described this drug as “the Holy Grail” of drugs.

The prosecutor said Fishman was also obsessed with manufacturing drugs that would be undetectable in post-race testing.

Chow added one of Fishman's clients was trainer Jorge Navarro. He described Navarro as one of the sport's most successful trainers who ran a doping program that relied on Fishman and others.

Navarro has pleaded guilty for his role in the case and has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Chow told jurors that the government's case would include the testimony of trainers who bought Fishman's drugs, text messages, items seized as part of search warrants, and “the words of the defendants on wiretaps.”

During his opening statement, Fishman's attorney Maurice Sercarz said that when Fishman became a veterinarian, he swore an oath promising to always work for the benefit and health of horses.

“This is the calling he answered,” Sercarz said.

He added, “It will be for the government to prove that his intent and purpose was something other than limiting animal suffering.”

The defense attorney told jurors there is great beauty in racing, but there is an ugly side with too many owners and trainers willing to cheat.

Sercarz said it wasn't his client's intention to defraud or mislead anyone.

“The individuals who purchased substances and products from Dr. Fishman knew what they were getting,” he said.

Giannelli attorney Louis Fasulo said his client didn't do anything wrong. She believed the products Fishman manufactured were okay to deliver to others, he said.

He said Giannelli was a high school graduate dedicated to the well-being of horses.

“She went to work and fulfilled her responsibility,” Fasulo said.

After the opening statements, prosecutors called their first witness, Courtney Adams, for limited testimony before the trial's first day wrapped up. She worked for Fishman's business Equestology in South Florida from 2012-'16.

She said that during that time she saw Fishman treat animals “maybe once or twice.”

Prosecutors contend that Fishman's business was more about selling drugs than taking care of horses.

Her testimony resumes Jan. 21.

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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Jury Selection Process Begins for Fishman Trial

The Jan. 19 selection of jurors for the federal horse-doping trial of Dr. Seth Fishman and Lisa Giannelli was extended into at least a second day when only 37 of 75 potential jurors were questioned inside a lower Manhattan courthouse.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil called for an end to the marathon nine-hour session at about 6 p.m. ET, ordering the jurors who had yet to be interviewed to return to the same Southern District of New York court by 9:30 a.m. Jan. 20.

The interview process consisted of 72 questions posed to the possible jurors, asking about a wide topic of subjects, including their knowledge of horse racing, ownership of pets, gambling, medications, feelings about veterinarians, and their background. These questions were asked to learn if any of them had personal conflicts that would prevent them from viewing the court case fairly and impartially.

Nine of the persons interviewed Wednesday were excused for a variety of reasons.

Of the 37 questioned, the only potential juror who said he follows horse racing closely at the present time was excused after he voiced concerns about judging the case without a bias.

Fishman and Giannelli are facing federal charges for allegedly working through a company called Equestology to sell adulterated and misbranded performance-enhancing drugs to clients in the horse racing industry.

Fishman and Giannelli are part of the March 9, 2020, indictments that also snared trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis. Fishman is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit drug adulteration and misbranding while Giannelli is facing one count of misbranding conspiracy.

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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Fishman, Feds Spar Over Admissibility of Evidence

Seth Fishman and federal prosecutors are at odds over what types of evidence and expert testimony will be admissible in court when the veterinarian who allegedly made and sold purportedly performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) goes on trial in early 2022.

In the form of dueling motions filed by each party Dec. 1 in United States District Court (Southern District of New York), the two sides sparred over whether a jury should hear a wide range of evidence that involves what the government is alleging as Fishman “specifically target[ing] clients in the racehorse industry” by “peddling dozens of new drugs that purported to have performance-enhancing effects on racehorses [in a manner] squarely focused on ensuring that [he and his] customers would not get caught doing so.”

Some of what the prosecution wants admissible dates back at least a decade and involves Fishman being investigated in 2012 in Delaware when a Standardbred died after being injected with one of his prescribed products, plus separate PED-related admissions Fishman made in a different investigation that resulted in the prosecution of then-prominent Standardbred breeder David Brooks, who was convicted in 2013 in a $200 million fraud and obstruction of justice case.

The two sides also took umbrage at each other's choices of veterinary “experts” who have been submitted on witness lists to testify on the safety, efficacy, and clinical pharmacology of the drugs Fishman is alleged to have misbranded, adulterated, and conspired to distribute to other racetrack-based defendants in America and abroad.

Some of the motions made by both sides Wednesday that asked the court to exclude evidence relate to aspects of the case that have already been raised in previous court documents.

But one bizarre new offshoot that Fishman's legal team doesn't want brought up in front of a jury concerns a wiretapped phone conversation in which Fishman is allegedly asked by a camel-racing client in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) if he can also produce a “Viagra for ladies” that could be covertly added to a woman's drink.

The government is asserting that in February 2018, an individual identified only as “Bengawi” who purportedly worked for the UAE's Scientific Centers & Presidential Camel Department “solicited Seth Fishman to distribute PEDs, and to create and distribute [an aphrodisiac that] 'can be added in juice, for example.'”

Prosecutors wrote in a Nov. 17 court filing that, “In the course of these communications, the contact provided Seth Fishman with a video of what appeared to be an individual spiking a woman's unattended drink. In response, Seth Fishman offered to make 'BI-AGRA,' which he described as “Female Viagra so strong it makes the woman bisexual.”

The government's intent in wanting this exchange admissible appears to be rooted in establishing a pattern of what substances Fishman was able or willing to produce for clients.

The defense is objecting to the admissibility of those wiretapped sex-drug communications on the grounds that “the allegation that 'Bengawi' solicited the defendant to 'create and distribute illegal drugs' is a conclusion of law without any basis in fact…. It is unclear whether the defendant was responding in a humorous vein; or even taking the request seriously. There is no indication that the defendant subsequently shipped a substance intended for this use.'”

But even if the judge ends up disallowing that portion of evidence, the feds appear to be armed with a solid base of other wiretapped evidence to try and establish “Fishman's overall intent in his drug design–to avoid testability while increasing performance.”

One such intercepted conversation disclosed by the government in Wednesday's filing is a Mar. 31, 2019, call in which Fishman allegedly explains to a foreign potential client what his business strategy is at his Florida firm, Equestology:

“I design programs for people. So, if you're somebody who's got a bunch of endurance horses and you know what you are doing–and that's why I technically only work with trainers that have a certain amount of horses or more, because it would make sense to do it…I mostly work in regenerative peptides, and I work in things that are not commercially available.

“Every now and then people will ask me to make products because they want to go sell them to people who really don't know what's going on. Mostly camel guys that are in the desert. I don't have to tell you how it is, right?…But, I can meet with you [in Dubai]. You can explain to me your needs and wants and I can tell you how there's things that I made for other people that are not exclusive to them.

“If you want your own exclusive stuff, I'll tell you how we go about doing it. The reason I say that certain people want exclusivity is because, obviously, if these horses are being tested and they have something that somebody else has and that person is irresponsible, then it becomes a problem for them,” the government's motion stated.

When the judge does, in fact, rule on the admissibility questions, the crux of the decision might come down to which veterinarians will be allowed to testify and what they will be allowed to say in front of jurors.

The feds are objecting to Fishman's choice of Clara Fenger as a witness to opine on the nature of the pharmaceuticals he sold. She previously worked as a veterinarian with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for 15 years and is currently the sole proprietor of a Kentucky-based company called Equine Integrated Medicine.

Fenger's name might be familiar to racetrackers who have followed other drug-related cases. Her curriculum vita states she has provided “expert testimony” in no fewer than 19 international, federal, and state jurisdictions involving criminal, civil and administrative cases.

Recently, Fenger's work has included testifying on behalf of trainer Bob Baffert when his legal team overturned the 2020 lidocaine disqualifications of Charlatan and Gamine in Arkansas. Fenger also was hired by Baffert this past summer to escort the urine sample of GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico) when it was sent to New York for additional betamethasone-related testing.

The prosecution's objection to Fenger is “because none of Dr. Fenger's opinions are admissible…insofar as they are unsupported and not based on facts, data, reliable

principles, or specialized knowledge, and because they concern issues that will serve only to sow confusion and distract the jury.”

In turn, Fishman's legal team is objecting to the three veterinarians the government wants to call as “experts”: Jean Bowman, veterinary medical officer in the Division of Surveillance for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Diana Link, a veterinary medical officer at the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, and Cynthia Cole, the Director of the Racing Laboratory at the University of Florida who was responsible for the regimen of drug testing at the Florida Department of Pari-Mutuel Wagering.

“First, the Court should preclude testimony suggesting that the purpose of the statutory scheme is to ensure the well-being of the racehorses,” Fishman's counsel wrote in a memorandum accompanying the Dec. 1 motions.

“Second, the Court should preclude evidence regarding the 'safety and efficacy' of those products allegedly manufactured and distributed by Dr. Fishman. The defendant is not charged in the instant Indictment with crimes relating to the manufacture or distribution of substances that are unsafe for use by animals…Opinion evidence regarding the 'safety and efficacy' of Dr. Fishman's products is, therefore, not relevant to the issues at trial.”

Fishman is charged with two felony counts. In a separate court order signed Dec. 2 by the judge in the case, it was noted that his case (along with co-defendant Lisa Giannelli) received the first back-up slot on the court calendar to begin a trial Jan. 19, 2022.

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Jordan Fishman Enters Guilty Plea To Drug Adulteration And Misbranding In Federal Case

In a hearing before U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil on Oct. 6, Jordan Fishman changed his plea from “not guilty” to “guilty” to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding in the March 2020 federal case that saw over two dozen trainers, veterinarians and others charged in connection with a racehorse doping ring.

Fishman, 63, said he is of no relation to veterinarian Dr. Seth Fishman, who is also under indictment and with whom he had a working relationship. Jordan Fishman said he has a PhD in carcinogenesis and toxicology.

According to his testimony on Oct. 6, Fishman said from 2017 to March 2020 he formulated misbranded and adulterated drugs per Seth Fishman's instructions. Seth Fishman provided the materials and the instructions, he said, and Jordan Fishman followed the instructions to compound what he said were vitamins, amino acids, nutraceuticals, steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs. Jordan Fishman admitted he shipped the finished products to Seth Fishman's base in Florida and sometimes overseas, although he did not specify where. (Seth Fishman is known to have business contacts in the United Arab Emirates, according to documents filed in court.) These products, he said, were sent to Seth Fishman in unlabeled containers as he said Seth preferred to handle the labelling himself.

Jordan Fishman said the products were distributed by Seth Fishman through his company called Equestology. He said he did not know initially that the products he made were specifically destined for Thoroughbred racehorses, although he did know that Seth Fishman's business involved racehorses.

Prosecutors revealed that had the case gone to trial, they would have presented wiretap evidence from Seth Fishman's phone, evidence from a Dropbox account used to store documents related to Equestology, as well as emails exchanged between the two men which acknowledged investigative interest in their activities from the Food and Drug Administration.

Jordan Fishman was based in Massachusetts, where he was president and majority shareholder in Twenty First Century Biochemicals. The company specialized in the production of customized “peptides and amino acids” according to documents filed in a civil suit by Seth Fishman against Jordan Fishman and Twenty First Century Biochemicals. In that suit, which was filed two months after the federal indictments, Seth Fishman accused Jordan Fishman of falsely inflating the value of stock in Twenty First Century, and of failing to repay loans or complete pre-paid work. That suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, indicated that Seth Fishman had paid at least $1.25 million to Jordan Fishman's company since the start of their partnership in 2011. That case settled out of court in January 2021.

Jordan Fishman will face sentencing in February 2022. Per statute, the maximum prison sentence he may face is three years with up to one year of supervised release. Financial penalties by statute could include a fine of $10,000, twice the financial gain to Fishman or twice the cost to victims, whichever amount is greatest. Attorneys indicated that they have an agreement in place with Fishman that they will seek no more than 12 to 18 months in federal prison and a fine between $5,500 and $55,000, although that agreement does not bind the judge to confine her sentencing to those terms.

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