PEDs | Horse Racing Free Tips

Harness Trainer Who Sought to Use Dead Vet’s Credentials to Order Drugs Imprisoned 4 Months

Donato Poliseno of Delaware, who trained Standardbreds for over 50 years before opening a pharmaceutical company in 2012 that federal prosecutors said sold a “bevy of drugs” to other harness racing participants without legally mandated prescriptions, was sentenced on Wednesday to four months in prison.

A federal judge ordered that Poliseno, 72, must also pay a $2.26-million forfeiture as the result of a plea bargain that set aside felony charges related to conspiracy, drug alteration, and misbranding in exchange for pleading guilty to one count of a substantive violation of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act.

In a sentencing submission, prosecutors wrote that “Poliseno so abused his position that he sought to use a deceased veterinarian's credentials to continue ordering prescription drugs.”

The filing from the feds continued: “Poliseno fraudulently used the veterinary licenses of complicit veterinarians to obtain and widely disseminate adulterated and misbranded drugs marketed to racehorse trainers, including drugs designed to have performance-enhancing effect….Poliseno distributed and offered for sale both bespoke drugs created by co-defendant Louis Grasso, and prescription drugs that could only be distributed pursuant to a valid prescription.”

The sentencing submission explained that for eight years Poliseno ran Equine Vet Supplies LLC, which served as “a conduit between bulk drug manufacturers and consumers, creating a pipeline for trainers to receive prescription drugs that would otherwise require issuance by a licensed veterinarian. In that manner, Poliseno armed trainers with the tools to abuse and misuse drugs at their discretion.”

The government had requested “a sentence to some term of imprisonment [that] is sufficient, but not greater than necessary.”

A separate sentencing submission filed by the defense asked for leniency in light of Poliseno's age, his history of poor cardiac health, and the fact that he and his severely ill wife are the sole caretakers of a 5-year-old grandson.

Poliseno's sentencing submission further stated that “he has loved horses since he was a young boy” and that his crime was the result of “a serious lapse in his better judgment.”

The post Harness Trainer Who Sought to Use Dead Vet’s Credentials to Order Drugs Imprisoned 4 Months appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Chan Pleads Guilty to Single Felony Count in Plea Deal

The New York-based veterinarian Alexander Chan, facing three felony charges related to drug adulteration, misbranding, and wire fraud conspiracies for allegedly injecting purported performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) into racehorses trained by co-defendant Jason Servis and then hiding the billing for his services, cut a plea bargain with the government Monday.

Chan's deal involved waiving indictment and pleading guilty to a single superseding information charge of drug adulteration and misbranding in exchange for the other charges against him being dropped, a format that is similar in substance to deals that other convicted defendants in the wide-ranging doping conspiracy case have agreed to with government prosecutors rather than face a trial by jury.

Chan had signaled his intention to plead guilty last Thursday, when he asked for and was swiftly granted a Dec. 5 change-of-plea hearing in United States District Court (Southern District of New York).

That decision seemingly left Servis as the lone remaining high-profile defendant in the case to go to trial as scheduled Jan. 9. But news broke Friday that Servis, too, is seeking a plea deal to adjudicate his own trio of felony drug misbranding and conspiracy to commit fraud charges. There was no update on the court docket with regard to Servis's case status as of early Monday evening.

As part of his plea deal, Chan will also have to pay the feds a forfeiture of $311,760. The money judgment represents the value of “any and all drugs that were adulterated or misbranded when introduced into or while in interstate commerce or while held for sale…” according to court documents filed Dec. 5.

Chan's sentencing will be Apr. 13.

The post Chan Pleads Guilty to Single Felony Count in Plea Deal appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

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.

The post Servis Negotiating with Feds for Plea Bargain appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Harness Trainer Guido Gets 20 Months in Prison for Doping

Thomas Guido, III, a 57-year-old former Standardbred trainer based in the Northeast, became the third defendant in related criminal racehorse doping cases this week to be sentenced to prison.

On Thursday, a federal judge put Guido behind bars for 20 months as part of an agreement with prosecutors in which Guido pleaded guilty to one felony count of substantive drug misbranding and adulteration with intent to defraud and mislead in exchange for three conspiracy charges against him being dropped.

Guido was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Prior to his Nov. 17 sentencing, he already paid a $61,800 forfeiture that had been a condition of his plea bargain.

At two separate sentencings on Nov. 15, the same judge in in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) sent the former Standardbred trainer Rene Allard to prison for 27 months while the former racetrack veterinarian Louis Grasso got 50 months for his role in the same doping ring.

Had the case gone to trial, prosecutors had been prepared to prove how Guido and Grasso worked together to administer performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to Standardbreds.

“Critically, Guido sought to obtain some of the most potent PEDs in the industry-blood builders-to administer to racehorses for the purpose of corruptly improving their race performance,” prosecutors wrote in a pre-sentencing submission.

Among the evidence that the feds intended to present if the case had gone to rial was a 2019 intercepted phone call in which the trainer and veterinarian discussed the death of a horse named Reiki, presumably after the administration of a blood-clotting agent.

“Guido appreciated the dangers of illegally administering drugs to racehorses for no legitimate medical purpose,” the prosecution's filing continued. “One of Guido's racehorses unexpectedly died with no apparent cause, leading co-defendant Louis Grasso to speculate that the horse had died after receiving a mis-administered dose of N-butyl alcohol. Guido likewise appreciated that his conduct was prohibited: over the course of his career, Guido had received multiple prior positive drug tests and fines or suspensions as punishment.”

Prosecutors had sought a 30-month prison sentence. Guido's attorney had argued for a far more lenient punishment of 12 months of home confinement. Guido's lawyer also disputed that his client had a direct role in Reiki's death.

“The government suggests that Mr. Guido was directly responsible for the death of a horse under his care,” Guido's attorney wrote. “The basis of this allegation is a conversation between Dr. Grasso and Mr. Guido recorded on October 2, 2019, in which they discuss the death of a horse owned by a friend of Mr. Guido.

“Dr. Grasso, who did not examine the horse, opines that the horse died of an improperly administered N-Butyl injection. [Reiki] died the day before [after competing in] a race at Pocono Downs.”

“Mr. Guido was not present at that race, he did not transport that horse to the track, and it's not clear whether Reiki was stabled at [his farm]. Mr. Guido did not mis-deliver an injection of N-Butyl to Reiki on October 1, 2019…. The entire conversation is speculative [and] we don't know why the horse died,” the defense filing continued.

But yet, even Guido's own attorney conceded in the same paragraph that, “What is true, however, is that similar to his facilitating others in obtaining Epogen prescriptions, Mr. Guido may have supplied the N-Butyl that Dr. Grasso had prescribed for his barn. It is conduct that he deeply regrets.”

The post Harness Trainer Guido Gets 20 Months in Prison for Doping appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post