Government Claims Harness PED Case Involves 30 Tracks

The government charges a lengthy list of victims and jurisdictions of alleged criminal activity by five people indicted in New York federal court for conspiracy to adulterate and misbrand performance-enhancing drugs used in harness racing.

The indictment, which has been superseded four times, lists one count each against Dr. Louis Grasso, a veterinarian; Donato Poliseno, owner of a Delaware veterinary supply business; and harness trainers Rene Allard, Richard Banca, and Thomas Guido III.

While recently denying a motion to dismiss the indictment, U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel ordered government prosecutors to provide defense counsel a Bill of Particulars. The scope of the particulars, released on Monday by the U. S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, covers a wide swath.

Among victims named as objects of the conspiracy in the particulars are the betting public, the Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Canada Border Services Agency, and the United States Trotting Association.

From there, the document lists as victims 30 racetracks from Batavia Downs to Harrah's Philadelphia to Northfield Park to Red Mile to Tioga Downs to Yonkers Raceway and all points between; and 19 state and provincial racing and/or gaming commissions located in Ontario (two of them), the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.

The particulars also show as victims 40 pharmacies in Alabama, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas as places where Allard, Grasso, and Poliseno placed, attempted or intended to place, or caused to be placed prescriptions related to their alleged activities.

In addition, 51 enforcement and regulatory agencies in the areas of veterinary and public health and pharmacy practice are victims, according to the particulars. They're located in Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

According to court records, it's alleged that Grasso while licensed in New Jersey and New York wrote prescriptions for thousands of units of PEDs and that he from at least 2017 to 2020 manufactured and distributed customized PEDs and supplied them to trainers across the United States.