San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus unfold and folks isolated of their properties, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle treatment,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” despite the medicine becoming more and more scarce. However Staley had a manner of getting it, he later told an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese provider, prosecutors mentioned.

Staley was sentenced last week to 30 days in prison and a 12 months of residence confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible final year.

“At the top of the pandemic, before vaccines had been accessible, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman said in a news launch. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of the entire medical occupation.”

Staley’s attorney did not instantly reply to requests for comment late Monday.

How false hope spread about hydroxychloroquine to deal with covid-19 — and the consequences that adopted

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement caused demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those that wanted it for non-covid well being problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine is not an effective treatment for covid and didn't prevent individuals from changing into sick.

In line with prosecutors, federal brokers started looking into Staley after involved customers alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty improvements at inexpensive prices,” courtroom paperwork show, and supplied providers together with Botox, fats switch, hair removing and tattoo removing.

The covid treatment equipment got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra price), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, information present.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the therapy kit, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful remedy” that might preserve somebody immune from covid for a minimum of six weeks, in keeping with court docket data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the undercover agent, courtroom documents present. “It’s onerous to believe, it’s nearly too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a exceptional medical phenomenon.”

He added that the virus “actually disappears in hours” after an individual takes the drug.

When requested by the agent whether the medicine was a “guaranteed” cure for covid, Staley mentioned sure but certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there aren't any guarantees in life,” court docket records present.

In the course of the name, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records show, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “sweet potato extract.” He added that the powder was sufficient to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later offered the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, in line with court paperwork.

A Florida man acquired hundreds of thousands in coronavirus assist. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded responsible in July 2021. As a part of his plea agreement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one among his employees to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors said. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal agents through the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed remedy for COVID-19 to folks gripped in worry during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner stated in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “As we speak, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a rip-off to make a fast buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 high-quality and to provide again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s kit. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, multiple bags of empty capsule capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

In line with data from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been temporarily suspended by a courtroom order.