Veterinarian Chan pleads guilty to one count of misbranding or drug adulteration

Alexander Chan, a veterinarian who was indicted in 2020 along with more than two dozen other individuals connected to horse racing, entered a guilty plea to one felony count of conspiracy to commit drug misbranding or adulteration in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday, according to court documents.

Chan was one of only two people in the indictment who had yet to enter a guilty plea or stand trial, and he was scheduled to go to trial with the Thoroughbred trainer Jason Servis beginning Jan. 9. Instead, he will now be sentenced April 13 on the single felony count, according to the documents, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

Chan also was ordered to forfeit $331,760, according to the documents. Chan was an associate of Kristian Rhein, a New York-based veterinarian who pleaded guilty to one count of felony misbranding or drug adulteration late last year and received a three-year sentence.

In the initial indictment, Chan had been charged with two counts of drug adulteration and misbranding. In court documents filed by U.S. prosecutors, he was accused of distributing and administering a substance called SGF-1000 that was marketed as a “growth” stimulant, though regulators and chemists have cast doubt on its efficacy. His clients included Servis, prosecutors said.

According to the indictments, Servis was recorded on wiretaps as saying that he was administering SGF-1000 to “everything almost” in his barn, including Maximum Security, the champion 3-year-old colt of 2019.

Servis was one of two high-profile Thoroughbred trainers charged in the original indictment. The other, Jorge Navarro, entered a guilty plea and is currently serving a five-year prison sentence.