According to documents filed by federal prosecutors this week, one of the defendants in the 2020 drug adulteration and misbranding case has been up to no good.
Prosecutors are asking for a bail review after they say defendant Dr. Seth Fishman has violated terms of his pretrial release and has committed new violations of federal misbranding laws. Fishman, who was trained as a veterinarian, is accused of making some of the illegal substances at the heart of last year's indictments of trainers, assistant trainers, and veterinarians in what the government says was a widespread scheme to dope racehorses.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, prosecutors say they were in the process of interviewing an unidentified employee of Fishman's drug distribution business, which they say at various times was known as Equestology, Camelology, Equi-Tech and other monikers, in early November. The employee mentioned during the interview that Fishman's business was still making “energy drinks” and a “bleeder paste” for foreign distribution.
All the federal defendants saw their travel restricted after their arrest. Fishman had requested an exemption to travel to the United Arab Emirates in fall 2020 but that request was denied by Vyskocil.
Prosecutors say that in conjunction with FBI agents, they searched the employee's workspace and discovered the products the employee told them about in addition to others. The drugs they discovered included vials of an injectable called HP Bleeder and “PSDS: Pain Shot DS,” some of which had manufacture dates reflecting that they were created in this calendar year.
Photographs included in the government's request show a bottle of HP Bleeder whose label encourages users to give it six to eight hours before exercise and declaring in includes “no known testable ingredients.” Photographs also showed new, still-flattened boxes branded with VO2Max and one for E.G.H., which they say stands for Equine Growth Hormone.
Attorneys are requesting the judge revoke Fishman's bail and impose pretrial detention.
It's not the first time prosecutors claim Fishman has violated conditions of his release. In a conference earlier this year (the transcript of which was unavailable), the government revealed Fishman faces two federal charges because the second “is effectively a sentencing enhancement against Dr. Fishman because his conduct allegedly continued after his arrest and release on bail in 2019.” [Fishman was arrested ahead of the other defendants in the case, but his case was sealed until the bulk of arrests took place in March 2020.]
“For a felony conviction, rather than the maximum prison sentence being five years, Fishman instead is subject to a ten-year maximum sentence.”
Fishman is in the first grouping of defendants set to go to trial. The case has been assigned as the back-up case to take a start date of Jan. 19 and is also the back-up case to take a date in March. It remains unclear when the trial will actually begin.
Documents released earlier this year revealed that Fishman's operation was extensive, involving hundreds of products. Fishman also said he created customized doping programs for trainers which could reduce potential exposure to him or his other clients if one of them were to come up with a positive test. Read more about this and other revelations from wire tap evidence in this September 2021 piece.
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