San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the medication changing into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a way 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 language supplier, prosecutors stated.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines had been available, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman stated in a news launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the complete medical career.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought about demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and ultimately affecting those that wanted it for non-covid health problems. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an efficient remedy for covid and didn't stop folks from becoming sick.

According to prosecutors, federal agents began trying into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class beauty improvements at reasonably priced costs,” courtroom paperwork present, and offered providers including Botox, fat transfer, hair removal and tattoo removing.

The covid remedy package got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional charge), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, data show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of many emails and inquired concerning the remedy equipment, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing cure” that will maintain somebody immune from covid for at least six weeks, in response to court data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the undercover agent, courtroom documents present. “It’s hard to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a outstanding medical 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 “assured” cure for covid, Staley stated sure however qualified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are not any ensures in life,” court information show.

In the course of the name, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “acquired the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information present, 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 supplied the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five family members — for $4,000, based on courtroom paperwork.

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 part of his plea settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as considered one of his employees 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 brokers during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to people gripped in concern throughout a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner stated in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “In the present day, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a 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 high quality and to give back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s equipment. He also had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical drugs, a number of luggage of empty tablet capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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