Eighteen Months in Prison for Former Pharmacist Mangini

A United States District Court Judge Sept. 10 sentenced former pharmacist Scott Mangini, one of 29 people, including prominent trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis indicted last year on federal charges related to developing, distributing, and administering performance-enhancing drugs, to 18 months in prison.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said Mangini contributed to the conspiracy by, among other things, using his training as a pharmacist to design and create custom PEDs that were advertised and sold online, using misleading labels, packaging, and return address information.

Mangini had been arrested and charged in a superseding indictment along with Craig Robinson for operating the HorsePreRace.com and HorseGold.com outlets that were at the center of federal indictments stemming from an investigation of a widespread scheme by racehorse trainers, veterinarians, PED distributors, and others to manufacture, distribute, and receive adulterated and misbranded PEDs and to secretly administer those PEDs to racehorses competing at all levels of the sport.

In April Mangini pleaded guilty to one count related to conspiring to unlawfully distribute adulterated and misbranded performance-enhancing drugs for racehorses with the intent to defraud and mislead.

Mangini's prison sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken, matches that of Robinson, who previously entered a guilty plea. In addition to his prison sentence, Mangini, 55, of Boca Raton, Fla., was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a forfeiture penalty of more than $8.1 million.

"Scott Mangini used his skills as a pharmacist to create and supply a market for adulterated and unregulated performance-enhancing drugs that endangered racehorses," said U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss. "Mangini designed and peddled dozens of products intended for use by those engaged in fraud and animal abuse. 

"Mangini's products were manufactured in unsanitary facilities that he hid behind shell companies, straw owners, and fake prescription records. His conduct persisted despite efforts by state and federal regulators to shutter Mangini's operation and strip his license. Today's sentence underscores this office's commitment to the prosecution of those who, in their race for riches, would corruptly produce, peddle, or deploy illegal substances that endanger the animals under their care."

Following are details of Mangini's actions according to prior indictments, superseding information to which Mangini pled guilty, and other court documents, as well as statements made in public court proceedings.

From about 2011-March 2020 Mangini and his conspirators manufactured, sold, and shipped millions of dollars' worth of adulterated and misbranded equine drugs, including PEDs intended to be administered to racehorses for the purpose of improving those horses' race performance in order to win races and obtain prize money.

Mangini, a former pharmacist whose license was suspended in 2016, sold these drugs through several direct-to-consumer websites designed to appeal to racehorse trainers and owners, including, among others, "horseprerace.com" and "racehorsemeds.com."  

Among the drugs advertised and sold during the course of the conspiracy were "blood builders," which are used by racehorse trainers and others to increase red blood cell counts and/or the oxygenation of muscle tissue of a racehorse in order to stimulate the horse's endurance. Improved endurance enhances the horse's performance in, and recovery from, a race.

Also advertised and sold during the conspiracy were customized analgesics, which are used by racehorse trainers and others to deaden a horse's nerves and block pain in order to improve a horse's race performance.  

Mangini and his co-conspirators repeatedly touted illegal drugs sold on these websites as substances that "will not test" in the event of drug screens by racing officials. For example, Mangini's pain-numbing product "Numb It Injection" was advertised as a "proprietary formula and without question the most powerful pain shot in the market today AND WILL NOT TEST." Customers were expressly directed to administer the drug by "injection as close to the event or extreme exercise as possible."

The drugs distributed through the defendant's websites were manufactured in facilities not registered with the Food and Drug Administration and carried significant risks to the animals affected through the administration of those illicit PEDs. For example, in 2016, Mangini and co-conspirator Robinson received a complaint regarding the effect of his unregulated drugs on a customer's horse: "Starting about eight hours after I give the injection and for about 36 hours afterwards both my horses act like they are heavily sedated, can barely walk. Could I have a bad bottle of medicine? I'm afraid to give it anymore since this has happened three times." Commenting on this complaint to Mangini, Robinson wrote simply, "Here is another one."

Mangini is among 29 individuals charged to date in a series of indictments arising from an investigation of the widespread scheme. By evading PED prohibitions and deceiving regulators, horse racing officials, and the FDA, among others, participants in these schemes sought to improve race performance and obtain prize money from racetracks, all to the detriment and risk of the health and well-being of the racehorses. 

Navarro has entered a guilty plea and is awaiting sentencing. The Servis case is still in court with the trainer one of several individuals attempting to get information collected by a wire tap thrown out.