Key Distributor in Servis-Navarro Case Pleads Guilty

One of the key people involved in the distribution end of the federal case that saw more than two dozen people indicted on charges related to performance-enhancing substances entered a guilty plea July 23 before a United States district court judge.

Michael Kegley Jr. entered the guilty plea for his role in the distribution of adulterated and misbranded drugs with the intent to defraud and mislead. He entered that plea in a videoconference Friday before United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York Mary Kay Vyskocil.

Kegley, who had worked as director of sales at Medivet Equine in Nicholasville, Ky., is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 22 before Vyskocil.

"Michael Kegley promoted and sold unregulated performance-enhancing substances intended for use by those engaged in fraud and unconscionable animal abuse in the world of professional horse racing," said Audrey Strauss, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "This conviction underscores that our office and our partners at the FBI are committed to the prosecution and investigation of corruption, fraud, and endangerment at every level of the horse racing industry."

Last year's indictments included prominent trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis. Their cases continue but prosecutors already have landed several convictions for people involved in the case. In September 2020 Scott Robinson and Sarah Izhaki each pleaded guilty to charges related to their roles in distributing adulterated and misbranded drugs. 

In April Scott Mangini, an operator of several websites charged with conspiring to unlawfully distribute adulterated and misbranded PEDs, entered a guilty plea as well. 

According to allegations in superseding information, prior indictments, case filings, and statements during court proceedings, the drug "SGF-1000" was among the misbranded and adulterated performance-enhancing drugs marketed and sold by Kegley. Compounded and manufactured in unregistered facilities, SGF-1000 was an intravenous drug promoted as, among other things, a vasodilator capable of promoting stamina, endurance, and lower heart rates in horses through the purported action of "growth factors" supposedly derived from sheep placenta. 

Despite marketing, selling, and administering SGF-1000, Kegley acknowledged in intercepted calls that he, along with a co-defendant involved in the sale of SGF-1000, did not know the actual contents of SGF-1000. Nevertheless, Kegley's sales of that drug persisted, aided by the claim that SGF-1000 would be untestable in horses by law enforcement.

SGF-1000 was one of three products sold by Medivet Equine, which promoted itself as the provider of "all natural, drug-free products and lab services designed to optimize the overall health of performance horses." The products—SGF-1000, Medivet ACS, and MPTS360—were all developed in partnership with a company called Tailor Made Compounding, which shares the same address as Medivet Equine. The federal indictment identifies Tailor Made Compounding as an "unregistered" facility. (Tailor Made Compounding is not in any way associated with Taylor Made Farm.)

The U.S. attorney said the charges arise from an investigation of widespread schemes by racehorse trainers, veterinarians, performance-enhancing drug distributors, and others to manufacture, distribute, and receive adulterated and misbranded PEDs and to secretly administer those PEDs to horses competing at all levels of racing. By evading PED prohibitions and deceiving regulators and horse racing officials, participants in these schemes sought to improve race performance and obtain prize money from racetracks throughout the United States and other countries, including in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, and the United Arab Emirates, all to the detriment and risk of the health and well-being of the horses.  

Trainers who participated in the schemes stood to profit from the success of racehorses under their control by earning a share of their horses' winnings and by improving their horses' racing records, thereby yielding higher trainer fees and increasing the number of racehorses under their control. Veterinarians and drug distributors, such as Kegley, who worked as the director of sales for an unregistered distributor of equine drugs, profited from the sale and administration of these medically unnecessary, misbranded, and adulterated substances.

Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI New York Office's Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force and its support of the FBI's Integrity in Sports and Gaming Initiative.

The U.S. attorney noted that as to Kegley's co-defendants, the entirety of the texts of the indictments and the descriptions of the indictments constitute only allegations and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.