Scott Robinson, Horse Doping, New York 2020

New York, NY - Scott Robinson, a notorious figure in the horse racing industry, has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to distribute adulterated and misbranded drugs for the purpose of doping racehorses, federal officials announced Tuesday.

According to court documents, Robinson, 46, of [residence not specified], conspired with others to manufacture, sell, and ship millions of dollars' worth of adulterated and misbranded equine drugs, including performance-enhancing drugs intended to be administered to racehorses for the purpose of improving those horses' race performance in order to win races and obtain prize money.

Robinson sold these drugs through several direct-to-consumer websites designed to appeal to racehorse trainers and owners, including, among others, "horseprerace.com." He contributed to the conspiracy by, among other things, sourcing chemicals used to create custom PEDs that were advertised and sold; falsely labeling, packaging, and shipping those PEDs to customers across the country, including in the Southern District of New York; and collecting, reporting, and responding to employee and customer complaints regarding the misbranded and adulterated products advertised and sold online.

"Scott Robinson and Sarah Izhaki represent the supply side of a market of greed that continues to endanger racehorses through the sale of performance-enhancing drugs," said Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "Each of these defendants provided the raw materials for fraud and animal abuse through the sale of unregulated and dangerous substances: Robinson's products were manufactured in shoddy facilities with no professional oversight of their composition; Izhaki's products were smuggled into the country and sold from cars in supermarket parking lots."

Robinson's products were manufactured in non-FDA registered facilities and carried significant risks to the animals affected through the administration of those illicit PEDs. For example, in 2016, Robinson received a complaint regarding the effect of his unregulated drugs on a customer's horse: "starting bout 8 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, Robinson wrote simply, "here is another one."

Robinson will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken on January 15, 2021.

Defendant Information:

• Defendant: Scott Robinson
• Criminal Charges: Conspiring to unlawfully distribute adulterated and misbranded drugs for the purpose of doping racehorses
• City and State: New York, NY
• Case Date: December 2, 2020
• Sentence: Awaiting sentencing on January 15, 2021
• Amount: Millions of dollars' worth of adulterated and misbranded equine drugs

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/two-plead-guilty-racehorse-doping-charges