San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and folks isolated in their homes, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle treatment,” in line with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the medication turning into more and more scarce. But Staley had a means of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

Staley was sentenced last week to 30 days in jail and a year of house confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty last year.

“At the top of the pandemic, before vaccines were accessible, this physician sought to revenue from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a news release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of your entire medical occupation.”

Staley’s lawyer did not immediately reply to requests for remark late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning within the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement caused demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those who needed it for non-covid health problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine is not an efficient treatment for covid and did not prevent folks from becoming sick.

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

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 drugs, information show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the therapy package, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful treatment” that might maintain someone immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, in response to court docket information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the undercover agent, court docket documents present. “It’s onerous to consider, it’s nearly too good to be true. However it’s a exceptional clinical phenomenon.”

He added that the virus “literally disappears in hours” after a person takes the drug.

When requested by the agent whether the medication was a “guaranteed” treatment for covid, Staley said sure but certified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” courtroom records show.

In the course of the call, Staley additionally instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data present, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “sweet potato extract.” He added that the powder was enough to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later provided the agent prescriptions for generic versions 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 keeping with courtroom documents.

A Florida man obtained millions in coronavirus assist. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded guilty in July 2021. As part of his plea agreement, Staley also admitted to posing as certainly one of his staff to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors stated. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal agents during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in concern throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner stated in a information launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “Today, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as 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 positive and to provide back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, multiple luggage of empty capsule capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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