NEW YORK – Jury deliberations began Thursday in the federal trial of Lisa Giannelli, an equine supplements distributor who has been accused of misbranding and adulterating drugs sold to Thoroughbred and Standardbred trainers. The jury of eight men and four women sitting in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York began deliberations late in the day and met for about 30 minutes before going home for the night. Deliberations are scheduled to resume Friday. Before leaving the courthouse, the jury requested a large batch of government exhibits and a transcript of the testimony of a government witness, Conor Flynn, a former assistant harness trainer in New York who became a cooperating witness after his arrest in a related prosecution. Giannelli, of Felton, Del., is charged with conspiring to distribute misbranded and adulterated drugs that prosecutors allege were administered illegally to racehorses. Prosecutors said she engaged in the conspiracy while working at a Florida company called Equestology that was owned by veterinarian Seth Fishman. Fishman was convicted on two counts of adulteration and misbranding of drugs at his own jury trial in February and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. In closing arguments Thursday, prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi described Giannelli as Fishman's "trusted partner" at Equestology. But defense attorney Louis Fasulo countered that Giannelli was just an employee of Fishman's who did what she was told. "At no time during her employment did Fishman tell her, ‘You can't do that,’ " Fasulo said during his summation. "Lisa Giannelli was a high school grad relying on her boss, doing her job as instructed, and no one tells you it was wrong," he said. "No one from the inside. No one from the outside." Fasulo went on, "What was her intent? Was she acting in good faith? Was she doing the right thing?" He argued Giannelli was acting in good faith and without criminal intent. Fasulo also told jurors that he wouldn’t dispute that trainers may have used substances purchased from Giannelli "in an illegal manner." It is illegal to administer nearly any artificial substance to a racehorse on the day of the race. But he said that was their decision, not Giannelli's, while arguing that racing regulations hold that trainers are ultimately responsible for any substances administered to their horses. "There was no benefit for Lisa Giannelli," Fasulo said.  “If a trainer won a $60,000 purse, [Giannelli] didn't benefit," he said, because she got none of the purse money. "What she wanted to do was as good a job for Seth Fishman as she could and work her 16 hours a day," Fasulo told the jury. He argued that the government had failed to prove that Giannelli intended to defraud anyone or break the law. Intent is an element of the crime Giannelli is charged with. In rebuttal to Fasulo's argument, Mortazavi, the lead prosecuting attorney, told the jury the government had more than met its burden in establishing Giannelli's guilt. The government called 12 witnesses and introduced dozens of pieces of evidence, including emails, texts, wiretapped phone calls, and photographs. Prosecutors also presented physical evidence seized by the FBI in a search of Fishman's business and Giannelli's residence. She argued it wasn't true to say Giannelli didn't have a stake in races won by trainers using substances obtained from Equestology through Giannelli. "Trainers who win races buy more drugs," Mortazavi told the jury. "Trainers who didn't get caught buy more drugs." She added, "All the talk [of] who is leading Equestology, who the veterinarian is, who makes more money, is just a distraction." Mortazavi said another distraction was the defense argument that Giannelli never gave a trainer instructions on how to administer one of the substances she sold to a horse before a race. "The defendant had the needles and the drugs and the instructions telling them how to treat a horse on the day of a race and assuring them they wouldn't get caught," the prosecutor said. Mortazavi had begun her closing argument discussing criminal intent and how she said it related to Giannelli. She said one proof of that intent to defraud and mislead was that Fishman claimed he designed the substances to avoid being detected in post-race tests. She pointed to a text exchange between Giannelli and Fishman in which Giannelli wrote that a client was asking about a particular drug and Fishman responded, "have it but it tests." Giannelli knew that mattered to trainers bent on cheating, Mortazavi claimed. She said additional proof of that intent was the lack of any labels on some products. "It's unlabeled to be untraceable," Mortazavi said, pointing to a substance that Equestology marketed and sold as a “blood builder” with the name BB3. A government witness testified BB3 could enhance a horse's performance. But Fasulo told the jury that expert could still tell what that drug was even without a label. "If she knew, [then] who is Ms. Giannelli deceiving?" he said.