Michael Tannuzzo

The barred Thoroughbred trainer Michael Tannuzzo, 50, was sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison on Monday as part of plea agreement in which he had previously copped guilty to one felony count of drug adulteration and misbranding with the intent to defraud or mislead. Tannuzzo, a native of Brooklyn and Queens who had 11 horses racing at Aqueduct at the time of his Mar. 9, 2020, arrest, made headlines 24 hours later by steadfastly declaring his innocence and maintaining that the New York State Gaming Commission shouldn't have...

The barred trainer Michael Tannuzzo appears poised to join the parade of indicted defendants in the 2020 racehorse doping conspiracy case who have changed their pleas to guilty in order to keep felony charges against them from getting decided at trial. On Tuesday a federal judge granted Tannuzzo a swift July 7 hearing to explain his reasons for wanting to change his initial "not guilty" plea. Tannuzzo, 50, who had 11 horses under his care and had been racing at Aqueduct at the time of his March 9, 2020, arrest,...

A federal judge on Tuesday denied a request by prison-bound veterinarian Seth Fishman to dismiss Count One of his two racehorse doping conspiracy convictions. Fishman, whose 26 months as a defendant have been hallmarked by minor courtroom dramas, various attempts to prevent or delay the trial, and accusations that he continued to peddle purported performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) while free on bail, had argued that he was tried twice for the same crime because the first count was contained within the second, much broader conspiracy. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of United...

A federal judge has established trial dates for the remaining Thoroughbred-related defendants in the alleged international doping conspiracy case that has already netted several convictions and a number of guilty pleadings. The most prominent name among the indicted individuals is the barred trainer Jason Servis, whose case will be tried alongside that of New York-based veterinarian Alexander Chan on Jan. 9, 2023. Servis amassed gaudily high win percentages during the 2010s decade prior to getting arrested on three felony drug misbranding and conspiracy to commit fraud charges in March 2020....

Thirty-four days after being found guilty by jury trial on two felony counts of conspiring to violate adulteration and misbranding laws in the nationwide racehorse doping case, the Florida-based veterinarian Seth Fishman made a motion in federal court asking for the first of those counts to be dismissed on the basis that it is allegedly "multiplicitous of" (already contained within) the second, much broader conspiracy. Fishman's Mar. 8 filing in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) is likely the first of several legal steps leading to a...

Newly disclosed transcripts of intercepted phone conversations involving alleged doping co-conspirators Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro reveal both an initial brazenness against getting caught and an utter ignorance about some of the substances the two now-barred trainers were purportedly injecting into their racehorses. According to a previously unreleased collection wiretapped calls made public last week by federal prosecutors, Servis and Navarro didn't always know the names of some the illegal pharmaceuticals they purportedly administered to their horses. Nor were they always clear on exactly what those substances were or what...

Prosecutors in the federal case against alleged dopers Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis and 12 other defendants told the judge Friday they had no objection to the granting of yet another extension so defense attorneys can sift through the voluminous amount of evidence against their clients, a move that will likely push back the start of the long-awaited trial until 2022 at the earliest. The May 7 letter from acting United States Attorney Audrey Strauss to U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil was filed fewer than 24 hours after defense attorneys...

Lawyers for banned trainer Jorge Navarro and six other defendants in the alleged nationwide racehorse doping conspiracy informed United States District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil late on Thursday that a "Motion to Recuse" filing is imminent that will ask her to step away from handling their cases. A motion to recuse is a formal request for a judge to remove him/herself based on prejudice or conflict. Either side in a case can make this motion, but the moving party bears the burden of proving that there are reasonable grounds that...

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,...