San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus spread and other people remoted of their homes, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle remedy,” in response to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the medicine changing into increasingly scarce. But Staley had a means of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“At the peak of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines have been obtainable, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman stated in a news launch. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of your entire medical career.”

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

How false hope unfold 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 within the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement precipitated demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those that wanted it for non-covid health problems. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective treatment for covid and did not forestall folks from changing into sick.

In accordance with prosecutors, federal agents started wanting into Staley after concerned prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class magnificence innovations at affordable costs,” courtroom documents present, and supplied services together with Botox, fats transfer, hair removal and tattoo removing.

The covid remedy kit came with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional price), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, records show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the remedy equipment, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing remedy” that would hold someone immune from covid for at the least six weeks, in keeping with courtroom information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley mentioned to the secret agent, court paperwork present. “It’s hard to believe, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it’s a remarkable medical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether the treatment was a “guaranteed” cure for covid, Staley mentioned sure but certified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court docket records present.

Throughout the call, Staley also instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “acquired the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records show, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “candy potato extract.” He added that the powder was sufficient 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 five relations — for $4,000, according to court docket paperwork.

A Florida man received tens of millions 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 part of his plea settlement, Staley also admitted to posing as one in every 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 brokers throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed treatment for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in fear throughout a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner stated in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “At the moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam 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 family’s equipment. He also needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical medicine, a number of baggage of empty pill capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

In response to data from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been briefly suspended by a courtroom order.