Izhaki Sentenced for Distributing Form of EPO

Sarah Izhaki, who admitted to distributing a form of erythropoietin (EPO) as well as offering masking agents for sale when she entered a guilty plea last year, was sentenced June 7 to time-served.

Izhaki was one of 27 people indicted in March 2020, including prominent trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, for charges related to the administration and distribution of performance-enhancing substances in racing.

According to United States District Court for the Southern District of New York records, Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil sentenced Izhaki, 47, of Manalapan, N.J., to time-served for one count of drug adulteration and misbranding conspiracy. The New York Daily News reported that Izhaki also was ordered to forfeit $20,000, which matches the sentencing recommendation put forward by her attorney.

Izhaki entered into a plea agreement with the government in August 2020 and pleaded guilty before the court Sept. 16, 2020. As part of that deal, two other charges were dropped.

In its sentencing recommendation submitted by her attorney, Izhaki admitted to supplying EPO to confidential sources posing as horsemen. EPO boosts a horse's red blood cell count in order to improve endurance during a race.

Prosecutors and defense agree that Izhaki obtained the EPO from a Mexican-based firm that operated without a license to import drugs into the United States. Beyond that, prosecutors noted that during an Oct. 17, 2019, call with a confidential source, Izhaki arranged to purchase $5,000 worth of another drug produced by that Mexican firm—a masking agent referred to as "the Devil." Masking agents are designed to conceal the presence of illicit drugs.

Izhaki's attorney noted that while she offered to sell the masking substance, there was no sale of that substance. Izhaki, who is not a vet or a pharmacist, admitted to selling ten vials of "EPO" Sept. 24, 2019, to the confidential source posing as a horse trainer and 24 vials Oct. 24, 2019, to a confidential source posing as a horse owner.

Izhaki had entered her guilty plea to one count of "conspiring to unlawfully introduce and receive with the intent to redistribute for pay; or otherwise adulterated and misbranded drugs in interstate commerce, and to misbrand drugs in interstate commerce." 

Following Izhaki's arrest, agents seized and searched Izhaki's phone and found text messages indicating that she had sold, or directed a third party to sell, dozens of vials of the misbranded and adulterated PED to racehorse trainers from February 2018-November 2019.

She also had faced charges related to smuggling the PEDs into the U.S. from Mexico. Those charges were dropped.

In its sentencing recommendation, defense outlined a number of health issues, including heart issues and chronic pain linked to a car accident, for Izhaki. Prosecutors agreed that Izhaki has health issues.