Drug compounder Robinson gets 18-month sentence in Navarro/Servis case

Scott Robinson, an owner of a compounding company who was one of 27 people connected to racing who were indicted last March by federal prosecutors, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $3.8 million in proceeds, according to prosecutors in the case.

Robinson, who operated several websites that offered substances of dubious value to horsemen and veterinarians, is the first individual charged in the indictment to receive a sentence. Robinson entered a guilty plea to a single count of “drug alteration and misbranding conspiracy” last September.

The indictment, which was unsealed in March of last year, alleged that a network of manufacturers, distributors, and trainers took part in a scheme to administer illegal substances to racehorses. The most high-profile individuals charged in the indictment were the Thoroughbred trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, who have both trained multiple graded stakes winners.

Robinson was one of two individuals named in the indictment to enter guilty pleas, along with a distributor, Sarah Izhaki. Robinson faced a maximum sentence of five years under his plea agreement, and prosecutors had earlier said in the agreement that they expected him to get the maximum penalty.

According to the agreement, Robinson admitted to creating “custom” performance-enhancing drugs in non-FDA approved laboratories and then selling the substances on-line. The agreement said that Robinson admitted to selling “blood builders” and “customized analgesics,” or painkillers, to customers of his websites, which included horseprerace.com, a website that had a notorious reputation among racing regulators prior to the indictment being unsealed.

“Scott Robinson created and profited from a system designed to exploit racehorses in the pursuit of speed and prize money, risking their safety and well-being,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a release announcing the sentence. “Robinson sold unsanitary, misbranded, and adulterated drugs, and misled and deceived regulators and law enforcement in the process.”

All but Robinson and Izhaki have pled not guilty to various charges of misbranding drugs and obstruction. Proceedings in the case have been drawn out by the pandemic and a discovery process that yielded “voluminous” materials due to the widespread use of wiretaps in the investigation and the seizure of mobile phones and computer devices.