San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and other people remoted of their properties, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle cure,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the medicine turning into more and more scarce. However Staley had a approach of getting it, he later instructed an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

Staley was sentenced final week to 30 days in prison and a year of home confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty final year.

“On the top of the pandemic, before vaccines were accessible, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman mentioned in a information launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the entire medical occupation.”

Staley’s legal professional didn't immediately reply to requests for remark late Monday.

How false hope spread about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the implications that adopted

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning in the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement prompted demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those who wanted it for non-covid health problems. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine just isn't an efficient therapy for covid and didn't forestall people from becoming sick.

In line with prosecutors, federal agents began trying into Staley after involved clients alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class magnificence innovations at reasonably priced prices,” courtroom paperwork show, and supplied providers together with Botox, fats switch, hair elimination and tattoo removing.

The covid therapy equipment got here with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional charge), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety drugs, records show.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of the emails and inquired about the treatment package, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing cure” that would keep someone immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, according to courtroom information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the spy, court documents show. “It’s arduous to consider, it’s almost too good to be true. However it’s a exceptional scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the remedy was a “guaranteed” remedy for covid, Staley stated yes but certified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” courtroom information show.

Throughout the call, Staley additionally advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “acquired the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data show, 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 supplied the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, in accordance with court paperwork.

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

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

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed treatment for COVID-19 to people gripped in fear throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a information launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “At this time, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

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

In response to records from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been temporarily suspended by a court order.