San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” despite the medication turning into increasingly scarce. But Staley had a method of getting it, he later advised an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese provider, prosecutors said.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines had been accessible, this doctor sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman said in a information launch. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of the whole medical occupation.”

Staley’s attorney did not immediately respond 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, starting within the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought on demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those that wanted it for non-covid well being issues. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective therapy for covid and did not forestall individuals from turning into sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal agents began trying into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class magnificence innovations at reasonably priced costs,” courtroom documents present, and supplied providers together with Botox, fat switch, hair removal and tattoo removal.

The covid remedy kit got here with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety drugs, records show.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired concerning the remedy package, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing remedy” that would maintain someone immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, according to courtroom records.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the undercover agent, court documents show. “It’s arduous to believe, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it’s a remarkable scientific phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the medicine was a “guaranteed” treatment for covid, Staley mentioned yes however qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there aren't any ensures in life,” court information present.

During the name, Staley additionally advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “got the last 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 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, despite by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five relations — for $4,000, in response to court documents.

A Florida man acquired tens of millions in coronavirus support. 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 settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one of his workers 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 in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in fear during a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “Today, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a fast buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 tremendous and to offer again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medication, multiple bags of empty capsule capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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