federal indictments

NEW YORK, NY-Disgraced former trainer Jason Servis was sentenced to four years in prison by judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in U.S. District Court in Manhattan Wednesday. Servis, one of more than two dozen people charged after a wide-ranging investigation by the FBI into horse doping, had earlier pled guilty to one felony count and one misdemeanor count related to the use of the banned substances Clenbuterol and SGF-1000. "You deliberately engaged in illegal conduct for years," Vsykocil told Servis. "This was not a one-time offense or an aberration. Your doing...

Harness trainer Rick Dane Jr. became the latest of the indicted trainers, veterinarians and others in the federal investigation into racehorse doping to enter a guilty plea in federal court on Thursday, and has been ordered to pay a monetary judgement of $33,912. Dane accepted a government plea deal on Friday, Feb. 11, and changed his plea from not guilty to guilty. The agreement was made between Dane, his attorney, U. S. Attorney Damian Williams, and U. S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil. Several of the defendants who originally pled...

The barred trainer Jorge Navarro cut a deal with federal prosecutors Wednesday in which he pled guilty to one count in a years-long Thoroughbred doping conspiracy in exchange for having a similar second count against him dismissed. Navarro now faces a maximum prison term of five years when he gets sentenced Dec. 17. In addition, Navarro on Aug. 11 agreed to pay $25,860,514 in restitution to a list of victims whose identities won't be divulged until the government's final prosecutorial paperwork is due one week before the sentencing. Navarro admitted...

Among the individuals originally indicted in the doping scandal involving top trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, Michael Kegley Jr. entered a guilty plea Friday morning during a teleconference before federal judge Mary Kay Vysockil. Kegley pled guilty to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding. Kegley had originally pled not guilty to the charges. Kegley will not be sentenced until a Nov. 22 hearing, but it was revealed during Friday's proceedings that he has entered into a plea agreement with government lawyers in which he has agreed to a...

The judge in the federal case against 14 alleged horse dopers on Friday granted a motion by the defense to extend the time frame to file motions to suppress evidence because of the massive amount of documentation that attorneys must sift through, which includes transcripts of potentially incriminating phone recordings, emails and text messages. "Given the volume of discovery that we are still reviewing, I respectfully request that the Phase Two Motions schedule be modified as follows: defense motions due June 28, government response due July 28, and defense replies...

In advance of next Tuesday's first status conference hearing in nearly five months in the federal racehorse doping case against the barred trainers Jason Servis, Jorge Navarro, plus 22 other racing industry defendants, both the prosecution and the defense filed letters to the judge Nov. 10 that give clues as to how each party intends to deal with the evidence in the case and the eventual trials that will ensue. The defense attorneys for Jason Servis filed first, informing the United States District Court (Southern District of New York) that,...

The banned trainer Jorge Navarro, one of the most prominent targets among 27 individuals facing federal charges in an alleged "widespread, corrupt scheme" to dope racehorses, has been granted court permission to leave the Southern District of New York jurisdiction and move his family to Ocala, Florida. But the endorsement signed Thursday by United States Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil that modified Navarro's bail conditions made it clear that the alleged doper "shall have no contact whatsoever with racehorses." Ocala, the heart of Florida's horse country, is part of the Middle...

Last week on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, spurred by this Bill Finley column in which prominent owner Joe Sutton spoke out about trainer Joe Sharp and his twice-disqualified Blackberry Wine (Oxbow)--who continues to run in conditions he would be ineligible for if not for positive drug tests--I put out an open call. I wanted to hear from owners and trainers who have been adversely affected by cheating and drugging of horses in light of the bombshell allegations revealed by the FBI indictments that rocked the sport...

Editor's Note: the following is part of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's weekly `Free-Data Friday' series. by Pat Cummings The federal indictments handed down on Monday, March 9 have rippled through the American racing industry, with every indication more are on the way. The results confirmed details which American horseplayers have accounted-for in their analysis over a long period. The veritable dean of those, Andy Beyer, used his platform in the Washington Post as the nation's horseplayer/columnist of record for decades to share his insights informed by observations and data. In...