Former harness trainer Rene Allard entered a guilty plea to a doping offense on June 2 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of York.
Appearing remotely before Judge P. Kevin Castel with attorneys Max Nicholas and Rebecca Orel, Allard admitted to a single count of drug adulteration and misbranding with the intent to defraud from at least 2015 to about January 2020.
Allard will be free on bail pending sentencing until then as long as he doesn't commit a violation of his conditions of release.
Part of the case disposition will be an agreed forfeiture order against Allard of $628,553.70.
September will be a busy month for Castel, who is scheduled to decide the sentences of five persons charged in the same indictment for related offenses in the harness racing business. Richard Banca and Louis Grasso will face the music on Sept. 6; the following day Donato Poliseno will be sentenced; Allard must appear on Sept. 13; and Thomas Guido III is set for sentencing Sept. 29. All of them were looking at a June 27 trial date.
Mixed into that group is Lisa Giannelli, who is to appear before Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil for sentencing in another division of the court after being found guilty by a jury of doping crimes while she worked for veterinarian Seth Fishman, who was found guilty of doping conspiracy crimes after a jury trial. Fishman will be sentenced July 11.
