Dr. Seth Fishman

Effective Dec. 1, the Meadowlands will ban 33 harness horsemen after evidence and exhibits track officials acquired from the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed the names of trainers and owners who had purchased banned substances from individuals who were charged with manufacturing and selling performance-enhancing drugs. The delay in imposing the ban was put in place in order to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest because many of the trainers are pointing horses to races run at the Meadowlands during November in which they could meet horses owned by Meadowlands...

The veterinarian Seth Fishman, who is currently imprisoned but appealing his 11-year sentence for two felony drug-supplying convictions in a decades-long international racehorse doping conspiracy, has filed legal paperwork objecting to the $13.5-million forfeiture that was also imposed upon him, claiming the judge's order was illegal. "The forfeiture sought here is not authorized by statute and is therefore unlawful in its entirety," Fishman's attorney, Steven Kessler, stated in a Sept. 12 filing in United States District Court (Southern District of New York). "The Preliminary Order of Forfeiture (POF) seeks a...

Having been convicted of two counts of drug adulteration and misbranding, with intent to defraud and mislead, Dr. Seth Fishman was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison, by far the longest sentence handed down to anyone among the many people tied up in a far-reaching doping scandal that has shaken the Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries. He will soon call a federal penitentiary home, and for a long time. Good. He got what he deserved. But is this the end of his story or a precursor to what's to come?...

Dr. Seth Fishman was not present in a Manhattan court in the final days of his trial involving his role in manufacturing and distributing performance-enhancing drugs, an absence that had gone unexplained for months. But a motion issued Friday by his attorney Maurice H. Sercarz seeking an adjournment of his sentencing answered the question. On February 2, 2022, when the jury returned its verdict convicting Fishman, he was an inpatient in the psychiatric wing at Mt. Sinai Hospital West. Fishman is scheduled to be sentenced Monday. Fishman was originally scheduled...

Lisa Giannelli testified at her horse doping trial May 4 that she had a good reason for wanting to testify in her own defense. "To tell my story," she told the jury in U.S. District Court in New York. She is on trial on a conspiracy charge, accused of assisting veterinarian Seth Fishman in the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs that prosecutors say were used by corrupt trainers to dope racehorses in violation of racing regulations. During three hours of questioning by her attorney Louis Fasulo, Giannelli, who admitted being nervous...

Jury selection kicked off April 27 in the trial of a Delaware woman who prosecutors say helped veterinarian Dr. Seth Fishman supply illegal performance-enhancing drugs to trainers who used them to secretly dope horses to win races. By day's end, a jury of eight men and four women was sworn in to hear the case against Lisa Giannelli in U.S. District Court in New York. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil scheduled opening statements for Apr. 28. The government has two FBI agents lined up to testify as their first witnesses. Giannelli...

NEW YORK--Standardbred trainer Chris Oakes, who has admitted to supplying Jorge Navarro with performance- enhancing drugs as well as using illegal drugs with his own horses, was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday. In October, Oakes, 57, pled guilty to one count of misbranding and drug adulteration with intent to defraud or deceive. The decision was handed down by Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York before a small audience that included Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural. Under the sentencing...

It was back in October of 2018 that a small-time harness racing owner and trainer named Adrienne Hall reached out to veterinarian Dr. Seth Fishman. She was new to the Florida harness circuit and says she simply was looking for a vet to help her with her horses. What she did not know at the time was that she had just made one of the worst mistakes of her life. Hall's relationship with Fishman evolved and became complicated. It led to Hall, 42, testifying earlier this year in court against...

New York federal prosecutors in the horse-doping trial of Dr. Seth Fishman neared the finish line Jan. 28, bringing their case to a close after calling 11 witnesses and presenting evidence from FBI wiretaps. "At this time the government rests its case," prosecutor Anden Chow told U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil on the trial's eighth day. A short time later, the defense rested their case without calling any witnesses or putting the accused veterinarian on the stand to testify. Without the jury present in the Manhattan courtroom, Vyskocil...

A New York jury heard a full day of testimony Jan. 21 in the horse doping trial of Dr. Seth Fishman and Lisa Giannelli. The entire morning and most of the afternoon featured a 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 video conference, told jurors that Fishman and Equestology were all about "testability." That meant creating "product" that couldn't be detected in post-race testing by horse racing authorities, she said. During...

The Jan. 19 selection of jurors for the federal horse-doping trial of Dr. Seth Fishman and Lisa Giannelli was extended into at least a second day when only 37 of 75 potential jurors were questioned inside a lower Manhattan courthouse. U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil called for an end to the marathon nine-hour session at about 6 p.m. ET, ordering the jurors who had yet to be interviewed to return to the same Southern District of New York court by 9:30 a.m. Jan. 20. The interview process consisted...