Via TD Thornton
Standardbred coach Rene Allard, 35, was third in North America in terms of both wins and earnings in the year before he was arrested and indicted in the international doping conspiracy investigation in March. 2020 was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in federal prison after previously pleading guilty to one felony charge of mislabeling and altering drugs.
Allard’s sentencing was announced on November 15, shortly after the same judge in the United States District Court (Southern District of New York) sent race veterinarian Louis Grasso to 50 months in prison for his role in the doping ring.
Prosecutors were getting ready to go to trial with evidence proving that Allard and Grasso conspired in tandem to drugged horses.
“Allard has, for many years, trained and raced horses through the use of a secret ‘doping’ scheme to gain a competitive advantage in races through the use of a performance enhancing drug (PED). wrongly,” the union wrote in its sentencing submission. “Allard obtained from co-defendant Louis Grasso and others unapproved, untested, new PED that he administered to inject his horses, despite the inherent risks of administering the drug. unnecessary for animals under his control. Allard, driven by greed, scammed tens of millions of dollars in winnings through his frantic attempts to manipulate races.
“Reflecting Allard’s commitment to his doping regime, Allard maintains in his warehouse a small pharmacy’s worth of drops, including the ingredients he uses to make his concoctions. his own ‘soaking potion’ and a ‘shock wave’ machine, which only licensed veterinarians can possess. . Many of Allard’s drugs were stored in a room that was mistakenly marked as if it belonged to Grasso, in Allard’s calculated attempt to distract surveillance if Allard’s warehouse was checked, by make it appear that veterinary drugs and equipment belong to, and are used by, a licensed veterinarian, and not by Allard,” the sentencing filing states.
As part of a June 2 plea agreement, Allard agreed to pay a $628,553 fine, equivalent to the value of the seized drugs. In contrast, Grasso was ordered to pay forfeiture totaling $412,442.62 and restitution in the amount of $47,756,576.
Allard faces up to five years in prison. The government contested a 30-month sentence, based on a term that another Standardbred coach in the same plot, Richard Banca, received. back on September 20. Allard’s personal attorney lobbied for an 18-month deadline.
“For most of his adult life, Mr. Allard made a living training horses to compete in horse races. Part of his job is to treat horses with vitamins, drugs or other substances to ensure that they recover from their injuries and maintain good health,” Allard’s attorney wrote in the defendant’s sentencing. .
The plea continues: “For the period charged in the Alternative Information, in order to maintain a competitive advantage, [Allard] did the wrong thing he should never have done: he bought his horse prescription drugs in bulk, rather than on an individually prescribed basis, with the understanding that the way he bought them the drug will mislead the regulatory authorities.
“Although Mr Allard always buys medicine from licensed veterinarians, he knows what he is doing is wrong, and he is motivated in part by a desire to improve the performance of his horses. that he is training and thereby win more races. By engaging in this behavior, he compromises…the underlying health of the animals he holds dear and around the people he has lived with all his life. I’m so sorry for what I’ve done [and] take full responsibility,” his lawyer wrote.
During the investigation of Allard before the nationwide sweep two and a half years ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted a phone conversation in which two other alleged masterminds in the mining industry discussed the deaths of horses trained by Allard after they were illegally delivered. medicine. A reference caught on wiretaps callously described the coach’s operation as “Allard death camp”.
Allard, a Canadian citizen, could face immigration issues that affect his sentence. His attorney wrote that Allard may not be able to serve his sentence at a minimum-security prison and that he may not be eligible for “time earned credits.” to reduce the actual time he has to serve his sentence.
