Veterinarian Seth Fishman began telling his story last week, to both the jury and Washington Post. Fishman, who is currently on trial in a federal courtroom in Manhattan for his role in a popular scheme to kill racehorses, wants you to believe he is an animal lover who made the most of his life. dedicated to working for the good and health of the horses he treated. He wants you to believe that the drugs he dispenses are given to help and cure disease, not to improve performance.
“The government will have to prove that his intentions and intentions were something other than limiting animal suffering.” Fishman’s attorney, Maurice Sercarz, spoke to the jury during the opening arguments of Fishman’s trial, including his associate Lisa Giannelli.
The government has said to the contrary that he is a restless jockey, has a close relationship with Jorge Navarro and is obsessed with winning races and producing undetectable drugs. .
From the Fishman team, it’s textbook stuff. Our customers are misunderstood. There are two sides to every story. It’s really the dirty horse race, not the Seth Mermaid.
Problem is, they don’t have anything to back it up. The government did its job and did it very well. The initial indictment included a series of evidence that the Fish-Man was cold and calculating, had no interest in the animal, and would inject the horse with anything he could find if he thought it would help him. The horse wins a race and collects a purse. Their claims are supported by a treasure trove of evidence.
According to the original indictment, after XY Jet (Kantharos) won G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, Fishman sent congratulatory messages to Navarro. Navarro replied: “Thank you boss, you are a big part of it.” The reference, allegedly related to Fishman’s role in procuring drugs for Navarro to use on the XY Jet, who later died.
There’s more to it, and from the indictment, the government’s conclusion is that the treatment and cure of horses is not part of Fishman’s playbook, despite his position as a veterinarian. . The indictment alleges that Fishman “failed to perform a medical examination, diagnosis, or medical necessity assessment of the provision of PED prior to the sale of the PED. Indeed, the management of such PEDs is not intended to cure the disease, but rather to increase the chances of winning in horse races.”
We learned on Sunday that the government is demanding prosecution of evidence that the Fishman was investigated in Delaware more than a decade ago after a standard hybrid died after being injected with one of its products. he.
However, it seems that Mermaid is intent on portraying himself as a heroic character. In one Washington Post The reporter wrote that Fishman describes himself as “a kind of St. Francis of Assisi.” He also told the Post that the reason he continues to fight the charges is because “I’m going to put one on the vet team.”
Follow Post, Fishman defied the wishes of his lawyer when he granted the newspaper an interview. No doubt his legal team could not be satisfied with a strange, rambling interview in which he did not support himself and did not present any credible evidence that wrongly accused. Instead, he stuck to the excuse of “I’m really an animal lover, please believe me”.
He goes on to claim that what is really all about the sport is trying to make itself more appealing to bettors by offering a cleaner product… as if that were a bad thing. bad.
Are from Post story: “Fishman claims that the real motive of those seeking regulatory reform is to make the sport more palatable to bettors by removing any foreign substances – with The cost is the animals. “I don’t think the veterinary world needs to respond to a gambling product that seems to be becoming more corrupt, not less corrupt,” says Fishman. “The needs of the animals should come before the needs of the gambler.”
In another strange exchange with PostFishman says that in another instance, the union asked him to wear a harness in an attempt to catch racetrack fraud. He refused to do so, telling the newspaper that “to make them happy, I had to break two of the Ten Commandments. Suffice it to say for biblical reasons I couldn’t.”
The trial will resume on Monday, and unless his attorney has some sort of unforeseen trickery, it looks like the defense strategy will be more of the same. Their defense is weak, but it’s a possibility because that’s all they have.
Meaning they hope the jury will ignore the evidence presented by the government and bolster Fishman’s claims that he is, well, not such a bad guy. According to Pew Research, less than 1% of all federal criminal cases result in defendants taking their case to trial and winning. The most likely scenario is that the self-described animal lover leaves after the losing end here and his future includes some time in federal prison.
In doping testing, new names coming up?
The opening date of testimony in the Fish-Man-Gianelli trial included what could have turned out to be a bomb, with permission from government lawyers. Prosecutor Anden Chow told jurors that the government’s case would include testimony from trainers who bought Fishman’s drugs.
It’s not clear exactly what that means, but what if that means the trainers not on the original indictment are about to step forward and admit that they bought the PED from Fishman? Certainly Ngu has sold to many other people not mentioned in the indictment. If any new coaches appear, it’s likely they’ve made a deal with the government to avoid prosecution. But if anyone comes first and admits to using PED illegally, they will certainly face sanctions from racetracks and racing commissions, very well, possibly a lifetime ban. .
Keep stable.
