What makes the Simpson case unusual is that his guilty plea came some three years after the original charges against Navarro, Servis et. al. were unsealed and there was no mention of Simpson's name in the indictments released at that time. Court records released this week show that Simpson came to the government's attention as early as mid-November, 2020 when the government and Simpson's attorneys agreed on a bail package. What happened over the next several months and why was Simpson's name omitted from the original indictment remain unanswered questions. The Simpson development also raises the question as to whether or not more new names will surface in the near future when it comes to those being indicted as part of the drugging scandal.

Simpson both trained and drove, winning 1,643 races as a driver and 375 as a trainer. He last drove in 2017 and it appears that around that time he accepted a job as an assistant to trainer Rene Allard. Allard is among the bigger names caught up in the scandal and is currently serving a 27-month prison sentence after he previously plead guilty to one felony count of misbranding and altering drugs.

In a particularly troubling chapter in the Allard scandal, the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted a phone conversation in which two other alleged conspirators discussed the deaths of horses trained by Allard after they had been given illegal drugs. One reference caught on wiretap described the trainer's operation as the “Allard death camp.”

Court documents released this week detailed Simpson's activities, which included purchasing drugs at a pharmacy in South Carolina and then shipping them to a training center located in the Southern District of New York. Simpson also, the government claims, “administered prescription drugs to racehorses under Simpson's and others' control without a valid veterinary prescription, for the purposes of enhancing the horses' race performance.”

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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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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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The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs may file a subsequent suit on the same grounds.
Despite the allegations against Allard, he had been cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice to train horses at a South Florida training center, as long as the horses under his care were not preparing to race. On Mar. 6, Gural announced that any owners who had horses with Allard would be banned at his tracks and their horses would be ineligible to race there. He also announced a ban against anyone who continued to have horses in partnership with the eight owners.

“To learn that people actually give this guy horses to train after what was discovered by the Federal investigation boggles the mind,” Gural said at the time. The owners, Kap Singh, Lawrence Dumain, Ira Wallach, Brian Wallach, Yves Sarrazin, Erin Hill, Bruce Soulsby and Allen Weisenberg filed suit, alleging violations of federal antitrust laws and state competition laws. The group alleged that Gural was attempting to “sanitize their illegal actions by attempting to smear Plaintiffs with the misdeeds of Rene Allard.”

United States District Judge Lawrence Khan disagreed, upholding the ban. “Judge Kahn clearly saw that this antitrust theory has no legs and did the right thing by dismissing the whole case,” Gural said in a statement. “This lawsuit and its outcome have only reinforced my resolve to purge PEDs from our industry even if it means defending baseless lawsuits like this or initiating my own legal actions against those who pose obstacles to our efforts, should I have to. Our industry requires, in my view, owners to be beyond reproach and held accountable for the training decisions they make.”

More so than any other track owner or manager in either Harness or Thoroughbred racing, Gural has been vigilant in his efforts to keep alleged dopers out of his tracks. Several of the Harness horsemen who were indicted in March, 2020 for their alleged involvement in a widespread scheme to dope racehorses had already been banned at the Gural tracks. Allard had been banned at the Meadowlands since 2013.

He has 4,570 career wins and his horses have earned over $53 million.

Allard, 36, was charged with misbranding and drug alteration, which carries a maximum sentence of five years. He continues to fight the charges.

During its investigation of Allard, the FBI intercepted a disturbing phone conversation between Ross Cohen and Louis Grasso, two others under indictment, discussing the deaths of horses trained by Allard who died after being given illegal drugs. Cohen referred to Allard's operation as the “Allard death camp.”

According to a deposition given by FBI agent Bruce Turpin, a raid of Allard's barn produced multiple empty syringes, the drug Glycopyrrolate, epinephrine and vials labeled “Thymosine Beta” and “for researching purposes only.”

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The Meadowlands, Tioga and Vernon Downs and Jeff Gural have been named in a lawsuit initiated by a number of Standardbred owners who allege to have been excluded from racing at the three tracks as a result of their patronage of trainer Rene Allard.

Allard was among more than 30 racing related individuals indicted and arrested in March 2020 by the United States Department of Justice for offenses relating to the systematic and covert administration of illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to racehorses. He was later included in a superseding indictment filed in federal court in December 2020. The charges remain pending.

The plaintiffs named are Kapildeo Singh, Lawrence Dumain, Ira and Brian Wallach, Yves Sarrazin, Erlin Hill, Bruce Soulsby and Alan Weisenberg, who in their complaint admit that they have an interest in horses stabled by Allard in Florida over the winter of 2020-2021. The complaint alleges that the plaintiffs were the victims of a conspiracy by Gural to exclude their horses from racing at the three tracks to gain a “competitive advantage.”

“It's a little discouraging that when you're trying to clean up the drug problem, we now have to hire an expensive lawyer to defend us against this lawsuit, which essentially calls me dishonest,” said Meadowlands President Jeff Gural. “Worse yet, we get no cooperation from the horsemen who love to complain about the drugs but don't lift a finger to help us catch the perpetrators. The lawsuit is without merit. We will vigorously defend against these allegations and look forward to being vindicated in court.”

According to ustrottingnews.com, the complain was filed on Aug. 23 in the U.S. District Court Northern District of New York. An initial conference before Magistrate Judge Miroslav Lovric has been set for Nov. 24, 2021 at 10 a.m. via teleconference.

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Allard was named as part of a superseding indictment filed near the end of 2020 in a case of drug adulteration and misbranding along with co-defendants Louis Grasso, Donato Poliseno, Thomas Guido III, and Richard Banca, many of whom were part of the first wave of federal indictments regarding drugs in racing from March 2020. 

Conditions of bail for Allard state that, among other conditions, he may not “train horses entered in any races” and is “to have no contact with racehorses outside the presence of third-party owner or delegated representative of the owner of the premises where racehorse is located.” When asked where Allard was operating and what the arrangements were for his supervision by a horse or facility owner, Lieb said, “Mr. Allard has complied at all times with his release conditions in the criminal case and continues to do so. We have no further information to provide at this time.” 

Dear Mr. Gural:

This firm is civil counsel to Rene Allard. Last week, you further escalated your long-running campaign to blacklist Mr. Allard from his chosen profession. Mr. Allard has every right to make a living. He has every right to continue training horses, which is his passion and his life's work. All of his current professional activities are specifically permitted by court order. We demand that you cease and desist from your tortious interference with — and your efforts to organize a group boycott of — Mr. Allard's business. Your actions are not just unlawful, but wrong.

You began your campaign against Mr. Allard in 2013 by excluding him from your racetracks. You then employed a private investigative firm that harassed and threatened others in the harness racing industry unless they provided negative information about Mr. Allard. You then caused unreliable information generated by those investigators to be turned over to the United States Government, leading to Mr. Allard's arrest. As a result of your actions, Mr. Allard is the subject of a pending criminal prosecution in which he fully intends to clear his name.

In the latest escalation, you have now demanded that all horse owners who do business with Mr. Allard stop doing so as a condition of doing business with you. On March 6, 2021, the Meadowlands media relations department issued a statement (the “March 6 statement”) that the three racetracks you control—The Meadowlands, Tioga Downs, and Vernon Downs, which account for a significant portion of harness racing opportunities in the Northeast and include harness racing's flagship track—will “exclude any horse being trained or that has been trained” by Mr. Allard in Florida. The March 6 statement also notes that for owners who “currently have or have had horses in Mr. Allard's stable this winter,” “all horses owned wholly or in part by them will be excluded” from these three tracks and “deemed ineligible . . . for any/all administered stake races . . . for a minimum of three years.” Owners who have done business with Mr. Allard must also divest their interest from any horses not trained by Mr. Allard in which they are minority owners by March 15 in order for those horses to race at your tracks. The ban would likely affect dozens of owners and hundreds of horses that have never been trained by Mr. Allard.

Thus, in addition to banning horses trained by Mr. Allard, the March 6 statement effectively provides that any owners who have any business relationship with Mr. Allard must agree to cease doing business with him as a condition of doing unrelated business with your tracks. The pressure on owners is severe. Owners who agree to the policy announced in your March 6 Statement would need to immediately sell their ownership interest in horses that are not trained by Mr. Allard, which would likely mean selling those horses at a loss. Owners who do not agree to the policy would presumably lose the stakes money they have already paid to race at the Meadowlands this year and any purses they may have won from racing there.

It is difficult to envision a clearer example of tortious interference with business relations. You are engaged in “deliberate interference” with Mr. Allard's existing contractual relationships with owners in an effort to induce owners to breach their contracts with Mr. Allard. NBT Bancorp Inc. v. Fleet/Norstar Fin. Grp., Inc., 87 N.Y.2d 614, 621 (1996). You are also making statements that “impugn[] the basic integrity” of Mr. Allard's business. Amaranth LLC v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., 71 A.D.3d 40, 48 (1st Dep't 2009) (“[Plaintiff] has adequately pleaded the elements of tortious interference with prospective economic advantage. It is well settled that where a statement impugns the basic integrity . . . of a business, an action lies and injury is conclusively presumed.”). And you are exerting severe economic pressure on owners by threatening to freeze them out of the most important opportunities in their field if they have any economic relations with Mr. Allard in the future. See, e.g., Carvel Corp. v. Noonan, 3 N.Y.3d 182, 193-94 (2004) (severe economic pressure on third parties who do business with plaintiff may constitute tortious interference with plaintiff's prospective economic relations).

You are also, in potential violation of the Sherman Act, attempting to orchestrate a group boycott of Mr. Allard in plain sight. A group boycott is an agreement among participants in the relevant market not to deal, or only to deal on discriminatory terms, with a competitor. See, e.g., NYNEX Corp. v. Discon, Inc., 525 U.S. 128, 134 (1998). Such boycotts are per se unlawful—meaning that they are illegal irrespective of whether they actually have an anticompetitive effect or a legitimate business rationale—where they involve horizontal agreements among competitors. See, e.g., Fashion Originators' Guild of Am., Inc. v. FTC, 312 U.S. 457 (1941). You are both an owner of racetracks and an owner of horses. Should you succeed in your efforts to induce other horse owners to agree not to do business with Mr. Allard as a condition of doing business with you, you would be entering into such horizontal agreements.

The improper purpose of the March 6 statement is further confirmed by your history of targeting Mr. Allard — and others in your industry who defy your edicts.

In 2013, after Mr. Allard won several significant races at your tracks and was having an excellent season (including a training UDRS of .367), you excluded him from racing at any of your tracks without explanation. As you have acknowledged, banning trainers — especially winning ones — from the Meadowlands can help your bottom line. That is so in part because you and your close associates sometimes have stakes in horses competing in those same races.

 A trainer has previously testified under oath that you banned him from your racetrack because he was winning races. After another trainer spoke out publicly against that ban, you banned him too. When a trainer worked to defeat legislation that would have expressly authorized the practice of allowing horses you own to race on your tracks, you banned him — and then banned other horsemen who were merely members of the association that opposed the proposed bill.

Even after you banned Mr. Allard from your racetracks, Mr. Allard continued his long track record of success. You, in turn, continued taking measures that would harm his career. You engaged a private investigative firm, 5 Stones Intelligence, to investigate Mr. Allard. 5 Stones used aggressive, unlawful tactics in an attempt to coerce witnesses into incriminating others in the industry. When witnesses refused to participate and told 5 Stones that they were not aware of any wrongdoing, 5 Stones threatened their careers in the industry.

You then gave the Government the information that 5 Stones collected through these questionable means. As you noted in the March 6 statement: “We, along with the Thoroughbred Jockey Club, spent much time and money employing the Five Stones investigators to prepare a case to get the feds interested which led to all of those indictments,” referring to the indictment against Mr. Allard and others. Your own words suggest that your purpose in retaining 5 Stones was not to uncover the truth. It was to produce information, whether true or false, that would “get the Feds interested” and lead the Government to indict Mr. Allard. In other words, you worked with 5 Stones to “lead the FBI in the right direction.” That the Government charged Mr. Allard on the basis of information provided at least in part by yourself and 5 Stones — after your years-long campaign against Mr. Allard, and after 5 Stones' repeated harassment of witnesses — raises serious doubt about the criminal charges that Mr. Allard now faces.

Despite Mr. Allard's arrest, owners have continued to employ him to train their young, non-racing horses because they are confident in his integrity and future success. As you are surely aware, Mr. Allard has been permitted by prosecutors and the Court to continue making a living by engaging in this work while the criminal case is pending. You, however, have continued your efforts to put Mr. Allard out of business entirely. Even before the March 6 Statement, you contacted owners directly to pressure them to end their business with Mr. Allard. Those private communications were consistent with your thinly veiled public comments that “anyone who used these people who were indicted cannot be sleeping well” and that “some might find it in their interest to cooperate.”

We hereby demand that you formally retract the March 6 Statement. We further demand that you state in writing that will not seek to require owners to stop doing business with Mr. Allard as a condition of entering horses into races at tracks you control.

You, your corporate entities, your affiliates, your employees and agents, and others acting at your direction, including but not limited to 5 Stones Intelligence, must also preserve all documents and correspondence concerning the investigation of Mr. Allard; your direct and indirect communications with others in the industry about Mr. Allard's business and/or conduct; and/or the March 6 Statement.

This letter is not an exhaustive recitation of Mr. Allard's legal claims, rights, or remedies, all of which we expressly reserve.

Sincerely yours,

Douglas E. Lieb

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The indictment revealed that an office at a Middletown, N.Y., training center where Allard operated was searched by federal agents who found bottles of injectable products labeled “for research purposes only.” That case was originally filed around the same time as a larger case brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York against alleged doping rings which included a number of Thoroughbred and harness trainers, assistants, and veterinarians.

Meadowlands management has become aware that Rene Allard is training a stable of horses in South Florida. As a result, The Meadowlands, Tioga & Vernon Downs will exclude any horse being trained or that has been trained in that stable in any stake and is actively investigating who owns the horses that are or have been in his stable this winter.

Those owners who currently have or have had horses in Allard's stable this winter are advised that all horses owned wholly or in part by them will be excluded from participation in all Meadowlands, Tioga & Vernon Downs races and that all of horses owned wholly or in part by them will be deemed ineligible to for any/all Meadowlands, Tioga & Vernon Downs administered stakes races for a minimum of three years.

If owners affected by the above are a minority partner on horses with owners that are not affected by the above and are being trained by accepted trainers, they must legitimately divest their interest in those horses, which will be required to be done and demonstrated to the satisfaction of The Meadowlands before the March 15 stakes payments will be accepted on those horses.

The affected owners should notify their partners on the horses that fall into the above category immediately.

“This news is particularly disturbing after the indictments of March and a later superseding charge in December of last year,” said Meadowlands President Jeff Gural. “We, along with the Thoroughbred Jockey Club, spent much time and money employing the Five Stones investigators to prepare a case to get the feds interested which led to all of those indictments. We will continue to partner with The Jockey Club to fund the continuing investigation by Five Stones. We could use support in this initiative and welcome anyone who would like to aid in the funding of this necessary and important endeavor.

“To learn that people actually give this guy horses to train after what was discovered by the federal investigation boggles the mind. The only reason to do this, that I do this, is to clean up racing so we might have a future and to protect the guys that do try to follow the rules.

“Horsemen seem to have this absurd unspoken bond that they protect each other. Well let me be perfectly clear, trainers that break the rules and use performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) are stealing from you, not me. They are beating your horse with a PED-enhanced horse then, they are buying or claiming your horse and them beating you with your own horse. I just don't get it.”

Meadowlands investigator Brice Cote will respond to questions at Bcote@playmeadowlands.com

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The allegations in the Dec. 3 indictment are nearly identical to those in the indictment filed against Grasso, Poliseno, Guido and Banca in February and March of this year. The timing of the indictments and arrests earlier in the year coincides with a larger case also from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York into alleged doping schemes utilized by Thoroughbred trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis.

At that time, a complaint was filed against Allard but prosecutors requested several extensions of time in the case throughout the spring and summer. The complaint details Allard's involvement in the alleged scheme with his co-defendants, as recounted by FBI special agent Bruce Turpin.

Turpin stated that Grasso, who had a veterinary license, worked for Allard. Turpin also stated Grasso operated a company that manufactured adulterated and misbranded drugs. Last week's indictment explained that Grasso allowed his veterinary license number to be used by non-veterinarians calling in orders to pharmacies for a charge of $100 per prescription, despite not knowing what the non-vets were prescribing to themselves. The drugs involved in the scheme allegedly included bleeding medications, pain blockers, and EPO-like products, among others. Poliseno stands accused of purchasing and distributing the drugs made by Grasso. Guido and Banca are fellow harness trainers.

The drugs, according to the indictment, were designed to be undetectable in testing.

The substances appeared to carry significant risk to the horses, according to court paperwork. An intercepted conversation between Guido and Grasso about the death of an unidentified horse indicated Grasso thought the horse had been “over juiced” with a bleeding medication.

“I've seen that happen 20 times,” Grasso said.

The complaint filed earlier this year against Allard includes bits of a conversation intercepted by federal agents between Ross Cohen (named in the original indictment alongside Navarro and Servis but absent from a later indictment in that case) and Grasso about Allard's barn. According to the transcript of the phone call from fall 2019, Cohen referred to Allard's operation as “the Allard death camp,” referring to two or three horses that died after receiving what Grasso said was an amino acid supplement from Weatherford, Texas compounding pharmacy NexGen.

A search of an office at a Middletown, N.Y. training center where Allard kept horses revealed empty syringes, bottles of injectable products labeled “for research purposes only” and bottles with labels the agent suspected did not match the content.

The superseding indictment calls for the defendants to forfeit assets acquired as a result of the alleged criminal acts.

Allard was the winningest trainer in 2019 at Pocono Downs is one of the top trainers at Yonkers. Allard was also previously excluded from the Meadowlands by owner Jeff Gural, as was Banca, according to a report earlier this year from Thoroughbred Daily News.

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