A bloodstock agent with ties to South Carolina pleaded guilty in federal court to drug misbranding and adulteration after cooperating with the government in the prosecution of another defendant.
Court records in the case of Kyle Zorn were unsealed last month. According to those records a one-count information was filed Aug. 27, 2024, essentially charging Zorn with conspiring from about 2015 through about 2021 in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere to introduce "adulterated and misbranded drugs" into interstate commerce. Under seal Zorn pleaded guilty and was allowed to remain free pending his cooperation in the prosecution of Sam Glover, who was also charged with drug adulteration and misbranding.
The Legion Bloodstock website says Zorn is one of three members of the agency based in St. Matthews, S.C. Although Zorn is also described as the director of sales for Hagyard Pharmacy in Central Kentucky, a phone call to Hagyard placed by BloodHorse revealed Zorn is not employed there. The criminal charge against Zorn involved a drug compounding company in Arkansas by which Zorn was employed at the time. Hagyard is not involved in the criminal case in any way.
On July 8 Zorn's record was unsealed and his guilty plea made public following what Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Mortazavi called his "public testimony" against Glover. With the assistance of Zorn's testimony, Glover was found guilty in a New York federal court jury trial that concluded in late June. A post-trial motion for acquittal filed by Glover's attorney Aug. 1 says Zorn was originally charged along with Glover and Rob Hopkins with a conspiracy to distribute omeprazole fenbendazole, an equine ulcer medication, pursuant to fabricated prescriptions. Hopkins entered a guilty plea to two related counts last year and, like Zorn, his record was recently unsealed.
According to the motion filed for Glover, the original indictment alleged the three co-conspirators "caused payments to be made to Dr. William A. Baker, a Kentucky-based veterinarian, in exchange for using his veterinary credentials in US Compounding’s recordkeeping software to make it appear as if the ulcer medication was validly prescribed to horses." Searches of the federal court website and the Kentucky Department of Professional Licensing did not uncover any charges filed against Baker.
Mortazavi, a member of the current New York prosecutorial team, was also active in cases charging multiple defendants with horse doping offenses in which former trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis infamously entered guilty pleas and were sentenced to prison. Information about the Zorn case was first disclosed in The Paulick Report.
Zorn's sentencing status is not clear in the online court record; however, it would not be unusual for his sentencing to be deferred pending final resolution of the Glover case.
Pending sentencing Zorn is free on conditions of release that include no further violations of the law, submission to supervision as required by pretrial services, surrender of his passport except when court-approved, and travel as approved by the government and the court.
