Servis Files Additional Memorandum to Suppress Wiretaps

Attorneys for embattled trainer Jason Servis and other defendants charged in an ongoing horse-doping case submitted additional court documents Sept. 23-24 in U.S. District Court supporting motions to suppress wiretap evidence.

Their memorandums follow a 155-page brief from the government filed earlier this month related to defendants who are alleged to have contributed to the sale, use, or distribution of adulterated and misbranded performance-enhancing drugs. More than two dozen individuals have been charged, with some, such as suspended trainer Jorge Navarro, changing pleas from not guilty to guilty in recent months. He did so about two weeks after Mary Kay Vyskocil, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, denied his attorney's request to suppress wiretap evidence.

Other defendants, such as Servis, have maintained not guilty pleas in advance of rulings on the wiretap evidence in their specific cases. Intercepted cell phone conversations are central to the government's case.

Servis had been one of the leading trainers in North America before his indictment and suspension from racing in March 2020.

The newly added memorandums are in addition to documents issued by attorneys for the defendants in early August.

In a 29-page joining reply memorandum filed Thursday, attorneys Rita Glavin, Michael Considine, and Robert Baum claimed the government's argument for keeping the wiretaps evidence is a "strained effort to rewrite" its wiretap submissions by offering after-the-fact rationales for material misrepresentations and omissions. Additionally, they wrote that the government failed to satisfy legal requirements and address designated offenses under Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. Title III prohibits the unauthorized, non-consensual interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications and establishes procedures for authorized wiretapping.

Attorneys for Servis also called for a Franks hearing, in which a defendant asks the court to determine if false or misleading information was given to justify a search warrant, or in this case, allow wiretaps.

As they did in earlier documents submitted this summer, attorneys for Servis attacked the basis for tapping the phones of Servis and veterinarian Dr. Kristian Rhein under claims that Servis was treating his horses with SGF-1000 and clenbuterol. The attorneys restated their position that the government knew, at the time it sought approval for the wiretaps, of testing by the Hong Kong Jockey Club that had been done on SGF-1000 that showed the substance did not contain any growth factors.

SGF-1000 is a formulation of amino acids reported to have been derived from sheep placenta that was compounded and sold in Kentucky by Medivet Equine and Tailor Made Compounding, a company not affiliated with Taylor Made Farm. The product was marketed to accelerate healing and have an anabolic effect on bone growth in horses, though its effectiveness as a performance enhancer is in question. It has been reported to contain peptide-based substances and other substances that may evade current testing.

Defense attorneys also claim the government misrepresented clenbuterol as a "banned and prohibited substance" in New York and New Jersey "absent certain exceptions." The most recent memorandum supporting suppression of the wiretap evidence notes that clenbuterol is a legal therapeutic drug permitted in the jurisdictions where Servis raced and allowed below specific thresholds on race day.

"There is no excuse for not getting this right—clenbuterol is well-known in the racing industry, the government had confidential sources to educate them, and the rules regarding use of clenbuterol are public," the memorandum states.

Clenbuterol is a bronchodilator that can be used therapeutically to assist horses with respiratory difficulties but is suspected to have been abused due to its muscle-development properties. This has led many regulators across North America to restrict its usage.

Rhein, a former New York-based veterinarian, pleaded guilty Aug. 3 and faces up to three years in prison.

In changing his plea to guilty, he told Vyskocil: "I, along with Jason Servis, concealed the administration of SGF-1000 and clenbuterol from the owners by billing for other services and dispensables in order to avoid scrutiny by the owners."

Attorneys for defendants Seth Fishman, Lisa Giannelli, Christopher Oakes, and Dr. Erica Garcia also submitted memorandums this week in support of suppressing wiretap evidence.