Horse Racing

All day testifying in the mermaid trial


A New York jury heard testimony all day January 21 in the horse doping trial of Dr. Seth Fishman and Lisa Giannelli. The entire morning and most of the afternoon was the second day of testimony from a woman who worked for Fishman at his Florida business Equestology for five years.

Courtney Adams, 34, testifying from Florida via videoconference, told jurors that Fishman and Facility were both about “testability.” That means creating a “product” that the racing regulator cannot detect during post-race inspection, she said.

During her testimony in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, prosecutors issued an email in which a veterinarian who was an Equestology client asked about one of the products, equine growth hormone, and whether it is testable or not.

“That was our biggest selling point, that he specialized in making products that couldn’t be tested,” Adams testified, referring to Fishman.

The witness, who was an Equestology office manager and later a sales representative, said Fishman told her there was a risk that regulators would conduct a test for the substance. If that happened, Fishman said he would have to create another product that would remain undetectable, she said.

“That’s the whole point of that product being untestable,” Adams testified.

Fishman and Giannelli face conspiracy charges in a widespread scheme to drug horses with performance-enhancing drugs to increase the treated horses’ chances of winning races. Those charged include celebrity trainer Jason Servis, who has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. Others, such as coach Jorge Navarro, pleaded guilty and were convicted.

Prosecutors say the defendant was motivated by greed to win the races and acted without regard for the welfare and safety of the horses.

While taking the stand, Adams admitted to helping mislabel the products Fishman makes for customers across the country and in the United Arab Emirates. She said she also ships unlabelled jars of the product.

Under questioning by prosecutor Andrew Adams, the witness said she knew “generally” that some of Fishman’s drug buyers were horse trainers.

“He would discuss why they wanted them and why they were used by them,” she testified.

“And did he say why they are used by coaches?” asked the prosecutor.

“He said they were being used because they were not verifiable,” Adams replied.

The jury also heard the witness name some of the drugs Equestology sold.

Those products include Endurance, Bleeder, Hormone Therapy Pack, HP Bleeder Plus, and PSDS.

Adams testified that PSDS stands for Pain Shot Double Strength, describing it as a “double strength product for pain relief.”

She pointed out that she did not know what the other substances were for.

Adams said she stopped working for Equestology in 2017.

“Honestly, I got over it,” Adams testified. “I don’t want to do that anymore.”

When she left, Fishman asked her not to discuss their business with anyone, Adams noted.

“I said okay,” she said.

She said in 2018 Food and Drug Administration investigators approached her to ask about Fishman. She said she was uncomfortable talking to them without an attorney.

After Fishman, Giannelli, Servis and about two dozen others with horse racing connections were indicted in March 2020 in a doping case, Adams said a friend sent her a link with a story about him. arrest.

She said after reading it, she contacted law enforcement.

“I read the story and I realized that they didn’t have the full story, and I felt obligated to give it to them,” Adams told the jury.

She said that because of the information she provided, government lawyers offered her a non-prosecution agreement.

During cross-examination, Fishman’s attorney Maurice Sercarz sought to suggest that Adams was motivated to contact law enforcement because of a personal hatred against Fishman.

She admitted that before leaving Equestology, Mermaid accused her of theft and using Equestology funds to purchase personal items.

She told Sercarz she was upset about those accusations “because they are untrue.”

During her cross-examination, Giannelli’s attorney, Louis Fasulo, questioned Adams about whether she worked at a place that put the horses at risk.

There was no response from her.

Adams also said she doesn’t think she’s breaking the law by labeling products she says are mislabeled.

At the end of the day, retired FBI agent Angela Jett of Long Island stood reading the notes of an interview she conducted with Fishman in 2010.

Jett said she interviewed Fishman as a potential government witness in a $190 million securities fraud case. That case involved a magnate named David Brooks and an armored company he owned on Long Island. Fishman worked for Brooks, an owner of Standardbred racehorses competing in New York and elsewhere.

According to the notes, Fishman told Jett that he had given performance-enhancing potions to Brooks, who had given them to his horses prior to the race.

Brooks was found guilty in 2010 of fraud-related charges and died in prison while serving a 17-year prison sentence.

Under Sercarz’s cross-examination, Jett admitted that her records do not indicate whether Mermaid was aware of the doping at the time it happened or “after the fact”.

He also points out that Jett’s notes show that when Brooks asked Fish-Man to take a stimulant drug on a horse, Fish-Man refused.

Jett’s admission to mermaids was never charged.

The trial will resume on January 24.

Leading industry publications Thoroughbred are working together to cover this important trial.





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