Marshall Gramm's problems started on June 9 when horse owner Michael Imperio made a post on X inquiring about an unusual set of past performances for two horses, Deterministic (Liam's Map) and Griffin's Wharf (Constitution), that he had come across.The post read: “Has anyone seen these new PP's with vet work? Also, how can I get them?”That led to an investigation that led to more investigations that concluded with serious allegations from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) against horse owner, gambler, handicapping contest player and college professor Marshall Gramm. Gramm has admitted that he was the one who had exploited vulnerabilities in HISA's cyber security to obtain confidential horse health records not just on Deterministic and Griffin's Wharf, but on million of records, HISA says. On Monday, HISA charged Gramm with multiple rule violations and has referred the matter to law enforcement officials, asking them to look into whether or not he committed fraud.So how did Imperio, who does not own any part of either horse, get hold of the information that led to one of the biggest scandals in horse racing history?It all started with a phone call from a friend, whose name Imperio would not divulge, who was participating in a handicapping contest that centered around the Belmont Stakes Festival at Saratoga. There were two–one run by XpressBet and the other by NYRA Bets. Has anyone seen these new pp's with vet work?Also how can I get them? pic.twitter.com/hln6tvAb8x— Michael Imperio (@MImperioRacing) June 9, 2026 Gramm had two entries in the XpressBet contest and finished with a bankroll of $0 in both. In the NYRA Bets contest, Gramm finished second with a bankroll of $37,328. He earned $35,250, plus a seat in the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge. There was a $5,000 buy-in to enter the contest, which means he made an additional profit of $32,328 with his actual wagers. HISA has reported that it will compensate the contest players who finished behind Gramm and will seek restitution from Gramm to pay the players.According to Imperio, one gambler noticed that someone was using PP's that contained veterinary information and took screenshots of the past performances of Deterministic and Griffin's Wharf. Those screenshots were passed around until they landed with Imperio's friend and were forwarded on to Imperio. Imperio said he does not know if the person using the PP's was, in fact, Gramm.The gambler sent the screenshots to Imperio, believing that, as a horse owner, he might be able to help solve the mystery.“So he sent it to me,” Imperio said. “He goes, 'Michael, you're a horse owner. Can you get these? Is this out?' And I said, 'No, it's impossible. You can only get your own horses.' This whole thing broke because some gamblers in the contest figured that someone else was cheating them. That's how this whole thing happened.“There's a story I heard that a guy told his friend he saw somebody on their iPad and he said, 'What the hell is this?' And he took a couple of pictures. Some were blurry. I don't know how many pictures he took, but those were only two that I got. If I had gotten more, I would have posted them.”Imperio said he logged into the HISA portal to check to see if the veterinary records on his horses were available to him and says they weren't because he is only a minority owner of the horses in his stable and only the managing owner is privy to the information. In Imperio's case, that is trainer Rudy Rodriguez.Imperio said he might feel differently about the situation if it had not involved a handicapping contest.“If you were betting a Pick Five, nobody cares because you're betting against the house,” he said. “They're getting their takeout. But you go to a contest and people are putting up their own money. Whoever saw this originally was in that contest with this guy. That's when they got mad. They thought, 'you're betting against me and robbing me.' I think the funniest part is this was all uncovered not by HISA, but by gamblers that were mad they were getting cheated.”Imperio said he is also upset that the information might have given Gramm an edge when it came to claiming horses.“To me, it's the claiming horse part,” he said. “I gave an analogy to someone and I said, 'It'd be like this: I go to my safe deposit box. I open the box that ain't my box. He worked in someone else's boxes. Do I have the right to go to everybody's boxes? No.'”Imperio said that he is surprised that Gramm is fighting the charges.“(HISA) offered him a great deal and he didn't take it,” he said. “That's the part I don't understand.”The post How Owner Michael Imperio Broke The Story of PP-Gate appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.