Jorge Navarro | Horse Racing Free Tips

Court Documents Reveal Indicted Trainers, Others Will Move To Exclude Wire Taps

Documents filed in federal court ahead of a status conference scheduled for next week indicate defense teams in the federal case surrounding an alleged horse doping ring will likely try to get as much evidence as possible excluded before the case goes to trial. A letter filed on behalf of trainer Jorge Navarro and several of the co-defendants charged alongside him outlines a series of motions their attorneys plan to file in the route to a trial date. The list anticipates motions to dismiss certain counts, suppress post-arrest statements, expert testimony, “introduction of test results,” and evidence derived from search or seizure of property, including electronic property, among other anticipated motions. The group of co-defendants that includes Navarro is also likely to move “to exclude references to horse deaths or horse injuries at trial.”

Counsel representing trainer Jason Servis indicated that defense team will make motions to suppress wiretaps and cell phone search and seizure, among other motions. That letter to U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil emphasized the tremendous volume of evidence provided from prosecutors, who worked with the FBI as part of the investigation, to defense attorneys.

“We note that these recent productions, which we understand total approximately 2.4 million files, are more than 43 times the cumulative volume produced to the defense prior to Sept. 29, 2020,” the letter reads.

There is some debate about how difficult it should be for defense attorneys to review the information provided to them, according to a subsequent letter to the judge from prosecutors. In that letter, acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss states the government's evidence includes eight terabytes of data, including veterinary and shipping records, data from 80 electronic devices, drug marketing material, laboratory test results audio of intercepted calls and other data. All of that, Strauss, wrote, has been organized into folders and subfolders for the defense.

Strauss also outlined three groupings of defendants it expects to try together, but did not provide insight on the reasons for the groupings, as not every defendant is facing the same charges. The groups are:

Group 1: Navarro, Erica Garcia, Christopher Oakes, Michael Tannuzzo, Marcos Zulueta, Rebecca Linke
Group 2: Servis, Kristian Rhein, Michael Kegley Jr., Alexander Chan
Group 3: Seth Fishman, Jordan Fishman, Lisa Giannelli, Rick Dane Jr.

A status conference is scheduled for next week, where it's expected attorneys and the judge will confer on a possible trial schedule.

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Superseding Indictment Shows Navarro And Servis Doping Programs Stretch Back To 2016

A superseding indictment filed this week revealed a few new details about the doping programs orchestrated by embattled trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis and others from the much-reported federal indictments earlier this year. The superseding indictment includes four charges of drug adulteration and misbranding conspiracy as well as one count of mail and wire fraud.

Servis, along with veterinarians Dr. Kristian Rhein and Alexander Chan, were charged with mail and wire fraud conspiracy for using the U.S. mail to distribute and receive misbranded or adulterated drugs. One count of drug adulteration/misbranding includes Navarro, veterinarian Dr. Erica Garcia, Marcos Zulueta, Michael Tannuzzo, Christopher Oakes and Dr. Seth Fishman. Another count groups Fishman with son Jordan Fishman, alleged drug distributor Lisa Giannelli, and trainer Rick Dane Jr. A third count charges Navarro, Servis, Rhein, Chan, and drug representative Michael Kegley Jr., who allegedly sold SGF-1000. The fourth adulteration/misbranding charge is against Rebecca Linke.

Gregory Skelton, Ross Cohen, Nick Surick, Chris Marino and Servis's former assistant Henry Argueta are not named in the superseding indictment. It remains unclear from their federal case files whether this could mean they have made deals with federal prosecutors to provide information or testimony for lighter sentences. Many of the documents in their files in the case remain under seal.

There were no new defendants identified in the indictment beyond those originally indicted in March.

If found guilty, the defendants could be required to forfeit assets obtained as a result of their crimes. The drug adulteration and misbranding charges carry maximum prison sentences of five years, but the mail and wire fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

The doping programs are described in this week's indictment much the same way they were in the original indictment from March, depicting performance-enhancing drugs manufactured in laboratories that are not Food and Drug Administration-approved. Those drugs were often deliberately mislabeled to evade suspicion as they traveled through the backstretch or through the mail. Drug makers sold the substances to trainers, and some trainers sold them to one another, occasionally changing their labels along the way. Trainers were assured the drugs could not test, or that in the case of SGF-1000, it could only produce a false positive for dexamethasone, prompting trainers and veterinarians to cause vet records be altered to cover for any accidental or deceptive positives.

This week's indictment did reveal for the first time that doping by both Navarro and Servis went on as far back as 2016 and continued through February or March 2020. Servis stands accused of using SGF-1000 and other illegal substances on “virtually all” of his trainees during that time.

Specific horses named

Like the March indictment, this week's documents described the doping of Navarro trainee XY Jet as an example of Navarro's doping network at play. Prosecutors describe Zulueta shipping an adulterated pain blocker overnight to Navarro on Feb. 9, 2019 from Zulueta's base in Pennsylvania to Navarro in Florida for administration to XY Jet. On Feb. 11, after Navarro expressed disappointment with the horse's workout, Oakes provided Navarro with another pain blocker for the horse, and on Feb. 13, Garcia agreed to administer a misbranded blood builder called “monkey” to the horse. On Feb. 13, XY Jet won an allowance optional claimer at Gulfstream Park in preparation for the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen on March 30.

On March 22, while in the United Arab Emirates, Navarro is accused of personally administering “monkey” to the horse, later telling Zulueta, “I gave it to him through 50 injections. I gave it to him through the mouth.”

Navarro later credited Fishman with the horse's win in the race.

XY Jet would die of a heart attack in January. He had earned $3 million at the time of his death.

Additional details also surfaced about Servis's doping program with regard to Maximum Security. In addition to the SGF-1000 he was already accused of giving the horse, this week's indictment claims the horse also received clenbuterol as a performance enhancer. Although a legal therapeutic drug for lung infections, clenbuterol is known to have an anabolic-like side effect if dosed repeatedly. New Jersey racing regulators pulled biological samples from Maximum Security on June 5, 2019 as part of a pre-race test for the Pegasus Stakes on June 16, where he would run second. According to the indictment, the colt had gotten a dose of SGF-1000 just days prior, but that was not detected in test results.

A representative with the company producing SGF-1000 is on record as admitting he did not know the precise contents of SGF-1000 and acknowledging that Servis accounted for nearly as many sales of the drug as his veterinarian.

Covering their tracks

Drugs were transported in packaging referring to them as “for research purposes only” (likely because the federal restrictions that apply to mailing prescription drugs do not apply to research materials) or as “homeopathic” products.

Another strategy to make the substances look less threatening was to deliberately mislabel them as dietary supplements, which are not under the FDA's purview.

In an intercepted call between Kegley Jr. and Rhein (both of whom were affiliated with SGF-1000 producer MediVet Equine), Kegley stated, “[W]e can even put on the box, you know, 'dietary supplement for equine [horse.]' That way it's not, no one even has to question if it's FDA approved or not — it's strictly a supplement … ”

Read more about the tricky business of regulating dietary supplements, and why producers of PEDs sometimes market their products this way, in this 2016 Paulick Report feature.

SGF-1000 has been marketed in different ways before and after it began drawing scrutiny from regulators, but the indictment claims the substance contains growth factors including fibroblast growth factor and hepatocyte growth factor.

According to the indictment, Servis, Rhein, and Chan would falsify not only veterinary records to conceal the administration of SGF-1000, but also billing records so owners wouldn't know what their horses were receiving. Rhein, Chan, and unnamed others would bill the expense of the drug as “acupuncture and chiropractic” treatments which the horse never received. Misbranded clenbuterol would appear on bills under a designation called “stable supplies.”

New substances

In addition to previously-described SGF-1000, various versions of EPO, and pain blockers, a couple of new substances were mentioned in this week's indictment. ITPP, known more formally as myo-inositol trispyrophosphate, has been studied in human medicine as a treatment option for cancer patients since it increases oxygenation to tissues. Because of that effect however, it has also been a favorite of human athletes looking for illegal performance enhancement.

In 2016, trainer Roy Sedlacek was handed a five-year suspension of his license after two of his horses tested positive for AH-7921, a substance with morphine-like qualities. Sedlacek told officials he thought he was giving his horses ITPP. ITPP is found on a number of dubious websites purporting to offer performance-enhancing drugs or supplements to horse trainers. In reality, testing experts say it's quite expensive to produce, raising questions about how much of the ITPP marketed to trainers is genuine. Australian authorities have voiced concerns about the substance there as far back as 2011, claiming its use was then believed to be common in American harness racing.

Fishman supplied the ITPP to Navarro and others under the name ITP Plus and also offered a similar product called BB3, which purported to be a blood builder. Those blood builders were supposed to pass drug tests that would catch EPO, Fishman explained, because although they acted similarly, they were different substances. Between January 2017, Navarro paid Fishman “tens of thousands of dollars” to purchase PEDs.

On an intercepted April 2019 call with an unidentified prospective customer, Fishman makes no bones about the implications of administering the substances he makes, particularly untestable blood builders.

“Don't kid yourself: if you're giving something to a horse to make it better, and you're not supposed to do that … that's doping,” Fishman said. “You know, whether or not it's testable, that's a different story.”

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In Superseding Indictment, Servis Faces Far More Serious Charges

Jason Servis and two veterinarians involved in the scheme to allegedly drug race horses could be spending considerable time in prison after the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York released a superseding indictment Friday that includes the charge of Mail and Wire Fraud Conspiracy. The maximum sentence under federal guidelines for the charge is 20 years.
Five individuals named in the original indictment were not included in the superseding indictment, including former Servis assistant Henry Argueta. That could lead to speculation that the five are cooperating with law enforcement authorities.

In addition to Servis, the wire fraud charges were directed at Alexander Chan and Kristian Rhein. According to the indictment, the two conspired with Servis to administer misbranded and adulterated PEDs.

“It is likely the expansion resulted from additional investigation, possibly as a result of a potentially cooperating witness,” said Frank Becker, an attorney specializing in equine law in Lexington, Ky., who is unconnected to the case.

“Notably, the superseding indictment alleges that at least some of the doping scheme commenced as far back as 2002 when Seth Fishman allegedly began manufacturing PEDs. Another significant allegation is that Seth Fishman provided the use of his veterinary license to distributor Lisa Giannelli to sell prescription veterinary `without a valid prescription.'”

The superseding indictment lays out a picture where Servis, Chan and Rhein were involved in a scheme whereby they obtained money and property by “means of false and fraudulent pretenses.” Specifically, the indictment charges that fraudulent bills were sent to owners, falsely billing them for the “undisclosed use of adulterated and misbranded drugs on the owners’ horses.”

In the original indictment, it was alleged that Servis, Chan, Rhein and Argueta conspired to dope racehorses using illegal drugs, including the PED SGF-1000. In a call intercepted between Servis and Navarro, Servis allegedly said “I’ve been using it on almost everything.”

In addition to Argueta, the individuals who were left out of the superseding indictment are Gregory Skelton, Nick Surick, Chris Marino and Ross Cohen.

The original indictment charges that Skelton is a veterinarian who misbranded and adulterated PEDs and Cohen acted as a distributor of PEDs. Surick and Marino are harness trainers who, according to the indictment, were also involved in receiving and administering misbranded and adulterated PEDs. Of the four, Surick was facing the most serious penalties as the charges against him included two counts of obstruction. The maximum penalty for obstruction is a sentence of 20 years.

Servis was among 27 individuals indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District in March after a probe into a “widespread, corrupt scheme by racehorse trainers, veterinarians, PED distributors and others to manufacture distribute, and receive adulterated and misbranded PEDs and to secretly administer those PEDs to racehorses under scheme participants’ control.”
“The superseding indictment adds that some of the defendants, specifically Jason Servis, Kristian Rhein, and Alexander Chan, falsified billing records to cover up the administration of SGF-1000 and Clenbuterol, such as by falsely labeling such charges as `stable supplies’ to deceive horse owners and regulators. Because these deceptive bills were mailed or electronically sent, the Superseding Indictment added a charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud,” said Becker.

Another significant expansion of the original indictment is a claim for `forfeiture’ against almost all of the alleged conspirators, rather than just trainer Nicholas Surick as in the original indictment. In fact, Surick (and four others) are not even included in the superseding Indictment, which may be a result of either a determination that there is insufficient evidence or that there has been an agreement with the prosecutors. In the original indictment, the three were charged with one count of Drug Alteration and Misbranding Conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of five years.

The new charges against Servis are the first developments in the case to be made public after Scott Robinson and Sarah Izhaki pled guilty to lesser charges, also raising the possibility that they are cooperating with authorities.

The superseding indictment did not include any new charges against high-profile trainer Jorge Navarro, who still faces two counts of Drug Alteration and Misbranding Conspiracy.

No new names surfaced in the superseding indictment, which replaces the original indictment filed Monday, March 9.

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Andy Beyer Joins TDN Writers’ Room

As the Breeders’ Cup draws nearer, legendary author, columnist, figuremaker and handicapper Andy Beyer joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland this week. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Beyer discussed the future of playing the horses, what his action looks like these days and the evolution of speed figures over the years.

Asked about his early Breeders’ Cup opinions, Beyer understandably said he’s against the strong on hype, weak on numbers Princess Noor (Not This Time), who figures to be among the favorites in the Juvenile Fillies.

“The commentators on TV were just riding the Beyer Speed Figures, like, ‘How can this great horse only be getting figures in the 70’s?'” he said. “Todd Schrupp on TVG mentioned her in the same breath with Ruffian, which to me is sacrilege. But the fact is when I look at all of her races, the figures are solid as a rock. When she won her last race [the Chandelier] at Santa Anita, there was a really weak group of male 2-year-olds [in that day’s GI American Pharoah S.] going the same distance. You have a direct line of comparison and her time was just very mediocre, as with her other races, so I always believed in standing by right figures when I can and I’ll be betting against her in the Breeders’ Cup.”

On how his betting habits compare to a younger version of himself, Beyer said, “I bet much less. When I developed the figures I was just about the only person who had speed figures. I had as great an edge as a gambler could want from the mid-70s to the mid-90s. Now that speed figures are common currency and everybody has access to them, I don’t have that. I made hay while the sun shined, in those golden years. Plus there are elements of the modern game that I just don’t like. At the top of the list is the Rainbow 6 and those other copycat jackpot bets. There was nothing that got my juices flowing like a big carryover in a traditional Pick 6. But the jackpot bets are, to me, a sucker bet to fleece the average player. So I’m down on that.”

A longtime critic of drugs in racing and the lax regulatory approach that allows cheaters to prosper, Beyer admitted that he didn’t realize the depths of the alleged criminality that were revealed in this March’s FBI indictments of Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro.

“In all the years that I would write about super-trainers and guys whose performance seemed to defy logic, I had the notion that, the industry is just looking the other way, stewards aren’t cracking down,” he said. “We learned from the case earlier this year that it’s not as simple as that. This was a major criminal conspiracy, with people manufacturing sophisticated drugs, hiding the presence of those drugs in a sophisticated way. It took a year-long investigation by the FBI with wiretaps to nail the cheaters. This was not just a sneaky trainer and a sneaky vet, it was something that needed a major law enforcement effort. So I think the only answer to this problem is to bring in high-powered investigators. Within the industry itself, it wasn’t negligence, we just didn’t have the tools to keep the cheaters at bay.”

Elsewhere on the show, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, the writers discussed the recent string of medication positives coming out of the Bob Baffert barn and what they mean, then gave their first-blush impressions of the Breeders’ Cup pre-entries. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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