Garofalo Receives Six-Month Sentence in Doping Case

Another of the more than two dozen defendants indicted by a federal grand jury for engaging in illegal activity with performance-enhancing drugs has been sentenced to prison. Carl Garofalo Sr. was given a term of six months March 15 by Judge Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Meanwhile, the case involving Lisa Giannelli has been set for a jury trial April 27.

Garofalo, a former owner, driver, and trainer of horses in harness racing, was named in a federal superseding indictment in May 2021 charging him with conspiracy to commit drug adulteration and misbranding along with former pharmacist Scott Mangini and others. The government's sentencing submission says the charges were predicated on Garofalo's distribution of PEDs to dope racehorses.

In addition to the jail term, Garofalo was ordered to pay $751,000 in satisfaction of a $6.7 million forfeiture amount.

According to court records, Garofalo, 60, quickly admitted culpability without an attorney present and in June 2021 entered a guilty plea to a reduced charge of drug adulteration or misbranding. His sentencing, originally set for October 2021, was delayed to accommodate maternity leave for one of his lawyers.

Garofalo faced a maximum of 36 months imprisonment. In its pre-sentence report, the probation office recommended a sentence of one year and one day.

Assistant U.S. attorney Sarah Mortazavi recommended a "substantial term of imprisonment, albeit below the 18-months term" being served by Mangini, who was sentenced last September. The government acknowledged Garofalo admitted guilt quickly and that he was less culpable than Mangini.

Prosecutors emphasized the means of avoiding detection utilized by Garafolo as well as his experience in the business which, they said, proved he knew he was violating racing rules in multiple jurisdictions, not to mention state and federal laws.

"It is not the case that Garofalo's crimes were the result of a single occurrence, or a temporally-limited lapse in judgment," the government wrote in a memo to Oetken.

Attorneys for Garofalo, Carla Sanderson, and Michael Cornacchia sought home confinement for him with a term of probation. They cited as mitigating factors his lack of a prior criminal record, history of being a good family man, health issues with co-morbidities putting him at risk for contracting COVID-19, and the greater culpability of co-defendants Mangini and Scott Robinson in the horse-doping scheme.

In September 2020 Robinson entered a guilty plea related to his role in distributing adulterated and misbranded PEDs and was sentenced in March 2021 to 18 months imprisonment. Prosecutors built a case that Mangini sold products to Robinson, who resold them.

The remaining defendant charged with Mangini, Robinson, and Garofalo is Dr. Michael Posner. Among other things, the prosecution alleges Posner allowed Mangini to use Posner's veterinary license to write fraudulent prescriptions for racehorses. Posner's case is set for trial June 29.

Giannelli Set for Trial

Giannelli, a co-defendant with Jason Servis, Jorge Navarro, and others indicted in New York, was informed this week that her case is ordered set for jury trial April 27 after the court's scheduling docket was loosened up from pandemic restrictions.

Giannelli was being tried jointly with Dr. Seth Fishman in January on charges of conspiracy to violate drug adulteration and misbranding laws when her attorney came up positive for COVID-19 relatively early in the proceedings. A mistrial was declared for Giannelli, and the jury went on to convict Fishman on two counts, one in connection with the operations of trainer Navarro and the other his doping company Equestology.

Fishman faces up to 20 years imprisonment. He is scheduled for sentencing May 5.