One year to the day after federal indictments were handed down in a massive horse-doping scandal that allegedly involved trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, veterinarian Scott Robinson was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Robinson pleaded guilty in September to a charge related to sourcing and shipping performance enhancing drugs intended for racehorses. The drugs involved included “blood builders” meant to increase red blood-cell counts, as well as nerve blockers meant to mask pain and injuries.
“Scott Robinson created and profited from a system designed to exploit racehorses in the pursuit of speed and prize money, risking their safety and wellbeing,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a Justice Department statement. “Robinson sold unsanitary, misbranded, and adulterated drugs, and misled and deceived regulators and law enforcement in the process.”
The conspiracy lasted from 2011 through March 2020, when those allegedly involved were indicted, including Servis, Navarro and Robinson.
According to the sentencing memo sent from the prosecutors to judge J. Paul Oetken on Friday, Robinson also threatened the FBI when they raided his drug-manufacturing business, saying he would send a letter to other horsemen warning them of the FBI investigation.
Robinson’s defense team also sent a memo ahead of sentencing on Feb. 26, asking for no prison time due to the fact that he had no prior criminal record. The document also claimed he had “donated more than $100,000 to rehabilitate and care for retired racehorses” and noted his “love for animals.”
The prosecution document dismissed those claims.
“The defendant’s professed affinity for racehorses as set forth in his submission … is belied by his near decade-long business model that treated those animals as disposable commodities to be used in the pursuit of race winnings by unscrupulous trainers,” the memo reads.
Robinson also forfeited US$3.8 million and will be under supervised release for three years after getting out of prison.
Besides Robinson and Sarah Izhaki, who also pleaded guilty in September, the cases for many of the alleged conspirators continues to move through the court system.
Fourteen of the defendants were arraigned in November on a superseding indictment, which includes maximum sentences of 20 years for wire fraud, after Servis and veterinarians Alexander Chan and Kristian Rhein were alleged to have falsified bills for horse owners.
“Servis, Rhein, Chan and others created fraudulent veterinary bills that were sent to racehorse owners, including a racehorse owner in the Southern District of New York, which falsely billed owners for the undisclosed use of adulterated and misbranded drugs on the owners’ horses,” read the indictment, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York on Nov. 5.
All defendants pleaded not guilty. According to the latest unsealed document from that case, filed Nov. 17, the next status conference will be held on May 14 and “Phase Two Motions,” which will deal with issues regarding suppression of evidence and statements, will take place on or around May 24.
A letter from Servis’s representatives, filed Nov. 10, indicated they will attempt to suppress wiretap evidence, cell-phone search evidence, post-arrest statements and other evidence.
