Drug adulteration and misbranding trials pushed to next year

Trials related to the indictment of 27 individuals last year on charges of drug adulteration and misbranding connected to Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing will not begin until next year following decisions made on a status conference conducted on Wednesday.

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Manhattan approved requests during the status conference to adjourn the first of four trials expected in the case to January. The requests were made by all three of the defendants in the first trial grouping, who all waived their rights to a speedy trial on the conference.

Vyskocil had earlier ordered that the first of the trials begin in the “fourth quarter” of 2021, targeting November dates. Attorneys for the defendants in the first trial grouping, which includes Jordan and Seth Fishman and Lisa Giannelli, made a number of arguments to support the delay, and U.S. prosecutors also said on the status conference that they preferred to push back the original dates.

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The trials revolve around the indictments in March 2020 of 27 individuals connected to horse racing, including leading Thoroughbred trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis. Navarro has already entered a guilty plea to one count of misbranding or adulteration of drugs and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Navarro is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 17. Five other defendants from the original indictment have also entered guilty pleas.

Servis has been placed in the fourth trial grouping, according to court documents.

In addition to the two Thoroughbred trainers, the indicted individuals include Standardbred trainers, veterinarians, drug distributors, and drug manufacturers. Prosecutors have alleged that the individuals participated in a scheme to distribute and administer mislabeled and adulterated substances to race horses.

Last week, Scott Mangini, one of the original indicted individuals who operated two internet business offering substances of dubious efficacy for sale, was sentenced to 18 months on the one count of drug misbranding and adulteration. Prior to the sentence being handed down, the judge in the case agreed to change references to “performance-enhancing drugs” in the sentencing document to “animal drugs, including drugs that may enhance animal performance.”

Vyskocil is currently considering motions filed by attorneys for 11 of the remaining defendants, including Servis, that seek to suppress evidence collected by prosecutors on wiretapped conversations. Because the prosecution has acknowledged that it has no evidence of failed drug tests by horses connected to the investigation, the recorded conversations form a significant portion of the prosecution’s case.

Vyskocil reminded attorneys that briefings on the suppression motions are not due until the end of the month, and that “the court will as diligently as possible get to ruling on them once we receive the replies.” Two weeks ago, the U.S. attorneys prosecuting the case issued their own reply to the motions.

Near the end of the status conference, Vyskocil expressed her frustration at the slow pace of the case, even in light of attorneys contending that the case is “extremely complicated” amid a “voluminous amount of discovery.”

“You are all on notice,” Vyskocil said, in reference to trials starting early next year. She then told the defendants in the first trial grouping, “You need to all assume you are going to trial in January.”