Lisa Giannelli | Horse Racing Free Tips

After Document Review, Meadowlands Bans 33 Owners/Trainers

Effective Dec. 1, the Meadowlands will ban 33 harness horsemen after evidence and exhibits track officials acquired from the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed the names of trainers and owners who had purchased banned substances from individuals who were charged with manufacturing and selling performance-enhancing drugs.

The delay in imposing the ban was put in place in order to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest because many of the trainers are pointing horses to races run at the Meadowlands during November in which they could meet horses owned by Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural. The delay will also give owners time to transfer their horses to new barns.

The Meadowlands requested access to evidence presented during the trials of Dr. Seth Fishman and one of his assistants, Lisa Giannelli. Fishman was sentenced to 11 years in prison and Giannelli was given a sentence of 42 months. They were among more than 30 people charged with crimes related to the use of performance-enhancing drugs on horses after a widespread investigation by the FBI and others.

Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural said that he has so far received information only from the Giannelli trial and predicted that when information from the Fishman trial is released far more names could be involved.

According to a press release issued Friday by the Meadowlands, the evidence obtained by the track revealed the identity of persons who had purchased prohibited substances Epogen and Thymosyn.

Those who will be excluded for the alleged use of EPO are Dylan Davis, Nick Devita, Gareth Dowse, Jeff Gillis, Brian Malone, John Mungillo, Eric Prevost, Richard Silverman, Leroy Slabaugh and Howard Taylor.

Those who will be excluded for the alleged use of Thymosyn are Ryan Bellamy, Anthony Buttitta, Franck Chick, Jamen Davidovich, Eddie Dennis, Brady Galliers, Rick Howles, Anthony Lake, Betty Jean Davis Lare, Kevin Lare, John Leggio, Gregg McNair, Cynthia Milano, Anthony Napolitano, Howard Savage, Arthur Stafford and Trevor Stafford.

Additionally and according to the Meadowlands press release, the Federal government conducted its own collection of blood and urine samples from racehorses, both post-race and from out of competition testing, during its investigation. Six individuals allegedly had horses test poistive for banned substances and also will be excluded from the Meadowlands. The following is a list of those individuals and the drugs their horses allegeldy tested positive for: Al Annunziata (Propantheline); Jenn Bongiorno (Ethamsylate); Bob Bongiorno (Ethamsylate); Scott DiDomenico (Ethamsylate); Jeff Gillis (Ethamsylate); Nick Sodano Sr. (Cobalt).

The 33 could face even more penalties as the information uncovered by the Meadowlands will be turned over to the various state racing commissions covering the tracks where the individuals compete.

Asked why there were no thoroughbred horsemen among the names uncovered by the Meadowlands, Gural speculated that Giannelli's clients were primarily Standardbred horsemen and that once names linked to Fishman are released they could involve thoroughbred trainers and owners.

Fishman, a Florida veterinarian, was sentenced for what United States Attorney Damian Williams said was due to “his role at the helm of an approximately twenty-year scheme to manufacture, market, and sell to racehorse trainers and others in the racehorse industry 'untestable' performance enhancing drugs for use in professional horseracing.”

While the evidence against Fishman was enough for him to be sentenced to 11 years in prison, the government's case didn't shed much light on who was buying what from Fishman and his company. The one exception was Jorge Navarro, who was directly linked to Fishman. In a Department of Justice press release it was revealed that “Fishman aided Navarro in doping XY Jet, a thoroughbred horse that won the 2019 Golden Shaheen race in Dubai before dying of sudden heart attack in January 2020. As established at trial, Fishman sold tens of thousands of dollars' worth of PEDs to Navarro over the course of several years, and Navarro specifically credited Fishman for XY Jet's performance at the Golden Shaheen.”

“The whole thing is terrible,” Gural said. “It's unfortunate. They lucked out that I kept the Meadowlands open, but their luck ran out because I am honest. We spent $2.5 million of our own money on this investigation. It's sad because there are people who had no choice but to cheat. They felt they had to feed their family and they couldn't win a race. What's really sad is Howard Taylor. He's not a trainer, he's an owner. He had to be giving EPO to his trainers to use and not a single trainer picked up the phone and said I have an owner who wants me to use EPO on his horses. He has 150 horses and he uses a lot of trainers. You would have thought at least one trainer would have picked up the phone and told us what's going on.”

The post After Document Review, Meadowlands Bans 33 Owners/Trainers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Giannelli Appeals Conviction, 3 1/2-Year Sentence

Lisa Giannelli, who was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison Sept. 8 after being found guilty of peddling purportedly performance-enhancing drugs as a years-long protégé under the recently convicted drug-dealing veterinarian Seth Fishman, filed a formal notice of appeal for both her conviction and sentence in federal court Sept. 21.

Giannelli, 56, of Dalton, Delaware, was also ordered to pay a fine of $100,000 and to forfeit $900,000.

“This was not a one-time thing,” Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of U.S. District Court (Southern District of New York) said at the time of sentencing. “For 18 years, Ms. Giannelli marketed and sold what she knew were illegal and powerful performance-enhancing drugs.”

Fishman, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison on July 11 after two felony drug-supplying convictions in a decades-long international racehorse doping conspiracy, has also appealed his conviction and penalties.

The post Giannelli Appeals Conviction, 3 1/2-Year Sentence appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Giannelli Gets Three and a Half Years in Prison

Lisa Giannelli was sentenced Sept. 8 to 3 1/2 years in prison as part of the federal government's sweeping investigation into horse doping at race tracks across the country.

Giannelli, 56, was found guilty of peddling illegal performance-enhancing drugs to trainers to dope horses and faced a maximum of five years in prison. Her lawyers appealed for a no-jail sentence of probation.

“This was not a one-time thing,” Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil said in U.S. District Court in New York. “For 18 years, Ms. Giannelli marketed and sold what she knew were illegal and powerful performance-enhancing drugs.”

Vyskocil said that with its verdict, the jury had rejected Giannelli's argument that she didn't know that what she was doing was illegal when she worked for Equestology, a Florida company owned by veterinarian Seth Fishman.

Giannelli, of Dalton, DE, was also sentenced to two years of supervised release after she gets out of prison. She was also ordered to pay a fine of $100,000 and to forfeit $900,000.

The government's investigation into the illegal use of PEDs to dope horses led to charges against 31 individuals. Since the charges were announced 30 months ago, Giannelli and Fishman have been convicted by juries, and 22 others have pleaded guilty. Fishman was sentenced in July to an 11-year prison sentence.

Those who have pleaded guilty include trainer Jorge Navarro. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

Trainer Jason Servis was also charged and is awaiting a trial scheduled to begin in New York in January.

Prosecutors said Fishman had designed PED to increase a horse's performance and endurance by building red blood cells and masking pain. The substances were designed to avoid showing up in post-race tests conducted by racing regulators.

At the sentencing, Prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi said Giannelli's actions on behalf of Fishman's company warranted the maximum sentence.

“Her criminal conduct touched hundreds of trainers and led to the doping of thousands of horses,” she said.

She said Giannelli has yet to really accept responsibility for her actions and that it was only after the jury's verdict that Giannell offered a “mealy-mouthed explanation for her conduct.”

Giannelli came to court with 13 supporters. Among them was a man she married while under indictment and his mother.

“It was never my intention to break the law,” Giannelli said.

She said that her arrest and conviction have left her life shattered.

“It was never my intention to hurt anyone or to hurt any animal,” Giannelli said. “Everything in my world now is upside down.”

“At this point I wish I had never met Fishman,” she said.

“I thought I was doing good,” she added. “I never knew it was not legal.”

Defense lawyers pleaded for a sentence of probation in court papers that detailed Giannelli's troubled upbringing and her abusive relationships with men. She said she obtained a license to train horses at harness tracks. She said she met Fishman in 2004 and became his sales representative.

Lawyer Alex Huot said Giannelli was not doing anything she wasn't instructed to do by the doctor.

“She took Dr. Fishman at his word,” Huot said.

But Vyskocil told Giannelli she should have known better because the conduct she engaged in occurred when she was an adult.

The judge said Equestology's PEDs were powerful substances that she believed could have and did kill horses.

Vyskocil said that in fashioning her sentence took into account Giannelli's background, her character, and more than 50 letters from Giannelli's family and friends.

“The letters all reflect that you are a kind person, and have a passion to make things better,” the judge said.

At the end, she told Giannelli that she was sorry for her, for the situation that brought her to court.

“I do believe you are a good person,” the judge said. “You have your whole life ahead of you.”

Giannelli's surrender date is Jan. 9, 2023.

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

The post Giannelli Gets Three and a Half Years in Prison appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Judge Says No to Fishman Conviction Dismissal

A federal judge on Tuesday denied a request by prison-bound veterinarian Seth Fishman to dismiss Count One of his two racehorse doping conspiracy convictions.

Fishman, whose 26 months as a defendant have been hallmarked by minor courtroom dramas, various attempts to prevent or delay the trial, and accusations that he continued to peddle purported performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) while free on bail, had argued that he was tried twice for the same crime because the first count was contained within the second, much broader conspiracy.

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of United States District Court (Southern District of New York) didn't see it that way. Her May 31 ruling against Fishman's motion paves the way for his June 30 sentencing, at which he faces up to 20 years in prison.

“Fishman now moves pursuant to Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure for acquittal on Count One, arguing that Count One is multiplicitous of Count Two,” Vyskocil wrote in her order. “That motion is DENIED because a rational trier of fact could find, based on the evidence at trial, that Fishman participated in two distinct conspiracies.”

Fishman, along with six other veterinarians, 11 trainers, and nine others, was charged in 2020 with being a key figure in an international network of purported PED suppliers who allegedly conspired to dope racehorses in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, and the United Arab Emirates.

Count One alleged a four-year conspiracy (2016-20) with Jorge Navarro, Erica Garcia, Marcos Zulueta, Michael Tannuzzo, Christopher Oakes and unnamed others. Count Two alleged a broad, 18-year conspiracy (2002-20) with Lisa Giannelli, Jordan Fishman, Rick Dane, Jr., and unnamed others based on Fishman's Florida online drug-selling portal.

Although a number of defendants in the wide-ranging racehorse doping conspiracy pleaded guilty prior to Fishman, he was the first to stand trial and to be found guilty by a jury.

“The defendant filed several pretrial motions, but he never argued that the Indictment was multiplicitous,” Vyskocil wrote. “The defendant also never raised the issue of multiplicity in connection with any of the Court's instructions to the jury at the trial. Indeed, the instructions relevant to this motion were jointly proposed by the defendant and the government…

“In charging the jury at the end of the case, the Court stressed that the Indictment contained two separate counts, that each count charged a 'separate' conspiracy, and that the jury was required to consider each count 'separately' and 'return a separate verdict on each count.' The Court explained that while there might be 'facts in common to different counts, each count must be considered separately.'

“The Court further explained that while '[m]uch of the law' applied to both counts, the Court would point out differences and 'provide specific instructions' about 'particular elements or findings,'” Vyskocil wrote. “The Court also instructed the jury that the Indictment charged the defendant with continuing the conspiracy charged in Count Two while he was released on bail.

“The Court stressed that whether the jury found Seth Fishman 'guilty or not guilty' of one charged conspiracy 'should not affect [the jury's] verdict' as to the other conspiracy charged in the Indictment. The defense consented to all of these instructions in advance, never objected to them during the trial, and never otherwise raised the issue of multiplicity with respect to the jury charges,” Vyskocil continued.

“The jury convicted Seth Fishman of both of the charged conspiracies, found that he had intent to defraud or mislead with respect to each conspiracy, and found that he continued the Count Two conspiracy after he was released on bail,” Vyskocil summed up.

Fishman's sentencing was supposed to be May 5, but got pushed back to May 26 when he claimed he did not receive financial forms from the feds that are necessary for his pre-sentencing report. Then he requested another new date after pandemic-related lockdown conditions were imposed upon the cell block where he is being detained in New York.

Previous legal maneuverings included the Florida-based veterinarian being inexplicably absent from court on the day that he was found guilty. A cryptic comment from Fishman's attorney to the judge during closing arguments led to speculation that Fishman had to be hospitalized.

In December 2021, Vyskocil had modified Fishman's bail conditions after federal prosecutors presented evidence that backed up allegations he was still selling PEDs while awaiting trial.

On two other occasions in 2020 and 2022, Fishman had unsuccessfully petitioned the court to adjust scheduling for pandemic-related reasons, at first arguing that his right to a speedy trial was being hindered, and then wanting to delay the trial over concerns related to not wanting to get sick with COVID-19.

The post Judge Says No to Fishman Conviction Dismissal appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post