Federal prosecutors called their final witnesses May 3 at Lisa Giannelli’s New York horse doping trial.
The end of the government case set the stage for what could be the climax of the trial: Giannelli’s testimony in her own defense. The trial will resume on May 4.
Government witnesses on Tuesday included Adrienne Hall, a belt trainer who also testified against veterinarian Seth Fishman, whom prosecutors believe Giannelli conspired with, and a retired special investigator for the Pennsylvania Racing Commission.
Hall testified that after first contacting Giannelli, she sent Fishman a message saying she wanted to know if he could help her make “pre-race selections” for a horse she just had. buy it or not.
During cross-examination, Hall was asked about her agreement with prosecutors in which she agreed to testify in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement.
Hall told Giannelli’s attorney, Louis Fasulo.
She said she is testifying “because I believe this will help the sport, it will help the horses and we really need that today.”
“You care about the integrity of the race?” Fasulo asked.
“Very,” Hall replied.
“You were part of the problem and now you are the remedy?” Fasulo said.
Hall insists she wants the sport to change.
“I bought two bottles of VO2 Max from Lisa Ranger,” Hall told the jury of eight men and four women.
Hall testified the sale took place in 2019 and she knew Giannelli at the time by her married name.
Prosecutors have described VO2 Max as an adulterated and mislabeled PED designed to help horses breathe.
They showed the jury the June 2019 bill for two bottles of VO2 Max and the price for $158. The return address on the bill is Giannelli’s home.
At another point, Fasulo captures Hall’s answer to a question in which she denies using PED out of greed.
In fact, she lost money, she testified.
“Did you do that to lose money?” Fasulo said.
“I did it to keep my horses,” she said.
The investigator who testified was Rita Noblett, who retired in 2021.
She said contraband drugs were seized from trainer Silvio Martin during a search of his pickup truck that took place in February 2020 at Racing Parx.
“He was going through the gate and I asked him to pull over,” she testified.
She says the substances are Banamine, Butaject and Dexium. In addition, syringes and needles were also seized.
The drugs are contraband because the bottles don’t have a prescription label.
Prosecutors said the bottles were found in a box with a shipping label for Fishman at Giannelli’s address in Delaware.
Noblett testified that it took her days to go to Martin to interview him.
“I tried to hold him back several times,” she told the jury. “He never responded.”
She said when she finally spoke to Martin, he said Fishman was his vet at his private ranch.
Noblett testified that she thought it odd that Fishman, who hails from Florida, was the veterinarian for Martin’s ranch in Pennsylvania.
“It didn’t make sense to me,” she testified.
On cross-examination, the witness testified that Martin’s private ranch would not be under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Racing Commission.
