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‘A Small Pharmacy’s Worth of Drugs’: Harness Trainer Allard Gets 27 Months

The former Standardbred trainer Rene Allard, 35, who was third in North America in both wins and purse earnings in the year before he was arrested and indicted in the March 2020 international doping conspiracy investigation, on Tuesday got sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison after having previously pleaded guilty to one felony count of misbranding and altering drugs.

Allard's sentence was handed down Nov. 15, shortly after the same judge in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) sent the racetrack veterinarian Louis Grasso to prison for 50 months for his role in the doping ring.

Prosecutors had been prepared to go to trial with evidence proving that Allard and Grasso conspired in tandem to drug harness horses.

“Allard, for years, trained and raced horses through use of a covert 'doping' scheme intended to corruptly gain a competitive advantage in races through the administration of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs),” the feds wrote in a sentencing submission. “Allard obtained from co-defendant Louis Grasso and others unapproved, untested, novel PEDs that he caused to be administered to his horses, despite the inherent risks of administering unnecessary medications to the animals under his control. Allard was motivated by greed, fraudulently earning tens of millions of dollars in purse winnings through his craven efforts to manipulate races.

“As a reflection of Allard's commitment to his doping regimen, Allard maintained in his barn a small pharmacy's worth of drugs, including the ingredients he used to mix his own 'drenches,' and a 'shockwave' machine, which only licensed veterinarians may own. Many of Allard's drugs were stored in a room that had been misleadingly marked as if it belonged to Grasso, in a calculated effort by Allard to divert scrutiny if Allard's barn was ever inspected, by making it appear that the drugs and veterinary equipment belonged to, and were used by, a licensed veterinarian, rather than by Allard,” the sentencing submission stated.

As part of his plea agreement back on June 2, Allard had agreed to pay a $628,553 money judgment, which represents the value of the forfeited drugs. Grasso, by contrast, was ordered to pay a forfeiture totaling $412,442.62 and restitution in the amount of $47,656,576.

Allard faced up to five years in prison. The government had argued for a sentence of 30 months, based on the term that another Standardbred trainer in the same conspiracy, Richard Banca, received back on Sept. 20. Allard's own attorney had lobbied for an 18-month term.

“For most of his adult life, Mr. Allard has made a living training horses to compete in harness races. Part of his job was to treat horses with vitamins, drugs, or other substances to ensure that they recovered from injuries and remained in good health,” Allard's lawyer wrote in the defendant's sentencing submission.

The defense filing continued: “During the period of time charged in the Superseding Information, in order to maintain a competitive edge, [Allard] did something that was wrong and that he never should have done: he obtained prescription drugs for horses in bulk, rather than on an individually prescribed basis, with the understanding that the way he was obtaining the drugs would mislead regulators.

“Although Mr. Allard always purchased drugs from licensed veterinarians, he knew that what he was doing was wrong, and he was motivated in part by a desire to improve the performance of the horses he was training and thus to win more races. By engaging in this conduct, he compromised the…potential well-being of the animals that he loves and around whom he has lived his entire life. He is deeply sorry for what he has done [and] bears total responsibility,” his lawyer wrote.

During its investigation of Allard prior to the nationwide sweep 2 1/2 years ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted a phone conversation in which two other alleged conspirators in the harness industry discussed the deaths of horses trained by Allard after they had been given illegal drugs. One reference caught on wiretap callously described the trainer's operation as the “Allard death camp.”

Allard, a citizen of Canada, may face immigration issues that affect his sentence. His lawyer wrote that Allard could be precluded from serving his sentence at a minimum-security prison, and that he will likely be ineligible for “earned-time credits” that would reduce the practical length of time he must serve.

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Feds: Fishman ‘Amplified the Disastrous Effects of Doping’

Six days before veterinarian Seth Fishman is to be sentenced for his two felony drug-supplying convictions in a decades-long international racehorse doping conspiracy, United States prosecutors told a judge he deserves a prison term greater than the 10 years recommended by federal probation officials, but below the maximum sentencing guideline of 20 years.

The feds also recommended that the judge not use convicted trainer Jorge Navarro's five-year sentence-the most severe among prison terms meted out so far in this conspiracy-as a measuring stick, because Fishman's criminal actions had a multiplying effect that caused exponential harm to racehorses, and he continued to peddle alleged performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) “until practically the eve” of his trial.

“[U]nlike the trainer-defendants charged and sentenced in this matter, Fishman's reach extended far beyond a single barn,” prosecutors stated in a July 5 sentencing submission filed in U.S. District Court (Southern District of New York).

“He supplied at least hundreds of trainers with his unsafe and illegal drugs. The breadth of the drugs the defendant offered for sale is unmatched by any other charged defendant in this action. The defendant was thus responsible for amplifying the disastrous effects of doping on racehorses in the industry. The defendant, under the guise of providing medically necessary veterinary care, enabled scores of corrupt trainers by selling unnecessary PEDs to enrich himself,” the filing stated.

Fishman undoubtedly tried to paint a different picture in his own sentencing submission that got filed June 27. But the public can't access that document, because his legal team asked for and received permission from the court to file it under seal.

Three days prior, on June 24, TDN reported that Fishman had to be hospitalized for psychiatric reasons during his trial earlier this year, thus explaining his cryptic absence during closing arguments. The presence of records related to his health could have been a reason the judge okayed shielding what is normally a public document.

The July 5 filing by the feds, however, shed some light on what Fishman wrote in his pre-sentencing filing, which is a convict's final chance to impress upon a judge that he doesn't deserve harsh punishment.

“It is unsurprising that the defendant's sentencing submission contains no expression of remorse or contrition,” the feds stated. “He likewise expresses no desire to reform. Even on the verge of sentencing, the defendant is entirely unrepentant for his crimes, and, absent a significant term of imprisonment, is at a high risk of recidivism.”

The government's report continued: “For almost two decades, including two years after his arrest in this matter, Seth Fishman cravenly pumped hundreds of thousands of illegal PEDs into the marketplace, and was dissuaded by no one–not state racing commissions, racetracks, the Food and Drug Administration, Customs and Border Protection, state drug regulators, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, nor this Court-to comply with the law.

“The defendant earned millions of dollars. He did so on the backs of racehorses that were doped by corrupt trainers. The defendant and his convicted co-conspirator, Lisa Giannelli, armed trainers motivated by greed with the means to corruptly win races by injecting and drenching racehorses with unsafe, medically unnecessary, prohibited PEDs.

“Fishman was not naïve or ignorant of the law. He did not 'exercise very poor judgment.' His crimes were not the product of a momentary lapse. Fishman was at the helm of a sophisticated, years-long, cross-border scheme to profit from the creation, marketing, sale, and distribution of illegal PEDs that he shipped across the country and around the world to unscrupulous trainers and others in the racehorse industry that sought to gain a competitive edge…” the filing stated.

“Over approximately 20 years, Fishman perpetuated the myth that he was operating as a legitimate veterinarian, conducting examinations, reaching diagnoses, and prescribing necessary medications for the treatment and prevention of bona fide medical issues.

“Yet Fishman did no such thing. He instead concocted novel PEDs, mass-produced his creations, and marketed and sold them to trainers across the country and around the world, resulting in millions of dollars of sales. He ran an illegal wholesale drug distribution business.

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Harness Trainer Allard Avoids Trial by Pleading Guilty

Harness trainer Rene Allard, who was third in North America in both wins and purse earnings in the year before he was arrested and indicted in the March 2020 international doping conspiracy investigation, on Thursday changed his plea to “guilty” on one felony count of misbranding and altering drugs.

Allard faces up to five years in prison when he gets sentenced Sept. 13.

As part of a June 2 plea agreement in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, Allard also agreed to pay a $628,553 money judgment, which represents the value of the forfeited drugs.

During its investigation of Allard prior to the nationwide sweep two years ago, the FBI intercepted a phone conversation in which two other alleged conspirators in the harness racing industry discussed the deaths of horses trained by Allard after they had been given illegal drugs. One reference caught on wiretap callously described the trainer's operation as the “Allard death camp.”

According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation deposition, a raid of Allard's barn later produced multiple empty syringes, the drug Glycopyrrolate, epinephrine and vials labeled “Thymosine Beta” and “for researching purposes only.”

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Feds: Fishman Still Selling PEDs Even as Trial Date Looms

An employee of Florida veterinarian Seth Fishman last week permitted Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents to search her workplace, and the inside tip has allegedly yielded evidence that Fishman is still selling purportedly performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) while awaiting an expected January start to his trail in the international racehorse doping conspiracy case.

“Remarkably, despite having been arrested in October 2019 and indicted in 2020 in connection with his sale of misbranded and adulterated drugs designed to be 'untestable' by various antidoping authorities, Fishman apparently persists in touting the efficacy of his drugs in evading antidoping testing regimes, labeling his new batches of HP Bleeder so as to indicate to his clientele that they contain no known 'testable' ingredients,'” stated a Dec. 6 court filing by the prosecution that asked a judge to consider revoking the bail terms of Fishman's pretrial release.

Fishman is charged with two felony counts related to drug alteration, misbranding, and conspiring to defraud the government. His case is being heard in United States District Court (Southern District of New York).

According to the filing, in the course of proffering an unnamed potential trial witness who has been a “long-time employee of Fishman's illegal drug distribution business” (variously operating under the names Equestology, Camelology, Equi-Tech and other monikers), the government was informed on Nov. 9 by “Employee-1” that Fishman's business “continued to operate in a purportedly limited” capacity.

“More specifically, Employee-1 informed the Government, in substance and in part, that Fishman's business was creating 'energy drinks' for foreign distribution and that Employee-1 remained tasked, by Fishman, with continuing to create a 'bleeder' paste (itself a drug containing active pharmaceutical ingredients), which Employee-1 also described as being for foreign distribution,” the filing stated.

“As charged in the Indictment, Fishman's drug operation is not registered or licensed with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to create, manufacture, and distribute drugs, including the 'bleeder' paste reportedly in continued production,” the filing stated.

After initially providing this information, Employee-1 and her attorney consented for FBI agents to accompany her to where she works for Fishman on Dec. 3.

“At that time, the FBI agents (accompanied throughout by Employee-1) discovered that Fishman is continuing to produce and distribute not only the paste identified by Employee-1 and the purported 'energy drinks,' but additional injectable, misbranded and adulterated PEDs, including the injectable drugs 'HP Bleeder' and 'PSDS: Pain Shot DS.'

“Labeling on certain of the vials discovered during this consent search reflect that Fishman continues to create and distribute these drugs today, including 'date of manufacture' markings reflecting activity even into 2021,” the filing stated.

The filing stated that “shipping material for 'E.G.H.' appears to be recently created packaging for equine growth hormone, a substance that, like HP Bleeder and various pain shots, were also sold by Fishman during and as part of the charged conspiracies.”

In asking the judge to consider revoking Fishman's bail, the filing stated that, “In addition to constituting evidence of the charged offenses and reflecting continued violation of federal law, the recent search reflects Fishman's failure to comply with the most basic term of his pretrial release, namely that he not 'violate federal, state, or local law while on release.'

“The drugs found in Fishman's offices continue to be manufactured through the same unregistered, unlicensed business that forms the basis of the charged offense, and include the drug 'HP Bleeder' previously obtained from multiple searches of premises controlled by Jorge Navarro, Lisa Giannelli, Christopher Oakes, as well as [other defendants],” the filing stated.

“As such, there is ample basis for a finding of probable cause that Fishman has flagrantly violated the terms of his pretrial release by committing an ongoing federal crime,” the filing stated.

The judge in the case immediately ordered a Dec. 20 hearing on the bail revocation request.

Fishman's attorney, Maurice Sercarz, told TDN in an email that “We will vigorously oppose any effort by the Government to modify Dr. Fishman's bail on the theory that he has engaged in continuing criminal conduct.”

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