San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus unfold and other people isolated of their homes, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his hands on a “miracle treatment,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the remedy becoming increasingly scarce. However Staley had a means 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 language provider, prosecutors said.

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

“At the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines have been accessible, this doctor sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a news release. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of the complete medical career.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to folks 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, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those that needed it for non-covid well being issues. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an efficient treatment for covid and didn't prevent folks from becoming sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal agents started looking into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class beauty innovations at reasonably priced costs,” court docket paperwork present, and provided providers together with Botox, fat switch, hair removal and tattoo elimination.

The covid treatment kit came with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra charge), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, information 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 cellphone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb remedy” that will hold someone immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, based on court information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the secret agent, court docket paperwork present. “It’s laborious to consider, it’s almost too good to be true. But it’s a remarkable scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the medicine was a “guaranteed” remedy for covid, Staley said sure but certified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are not any ensures in life,” court docket information show.

Through the name, Staley additionally told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said 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 versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, according to courtroom paperwork.

A Florida man acquired thousands and thousands 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 a part of his plea agreement, Staley also admitted to posing as one of his workers 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 brokers in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured remedy for COVID-19 to people gripped in concern during a world pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “In the present day, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

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

Based on information from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been temporarily suspended by a court order.