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 health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his arms on a “miracle treatment,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

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

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

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

Staley’s lawyer did not immediately reply to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is usually 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 “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement triggered demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those who needed it for non-covid health problems. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine will not be an effective treatment for covid and didn't prevent individuals from turning into sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal brokers began looking into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class beauty innovations at inexpensive prices,” court documents present, and supplied companies including Botox, fats transfer, hair elimination and tattoo removing.

The covid treatment equipment got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, information present.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the therapy kit, 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 “superb treatment” that would preserve somebody immune from covid for not less than six weeks, in response to courtroom records.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the secret agent, court documents show. “It’s arduous to imagine, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it’s a exceptional medical phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the medicine was a “assured” remedy for covid, Staley mentioned sure however qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” courtroom records present.

Through the name, Staley also informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “acquired the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data 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 versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, in response to court docket paperwork.

A Florida man obtained hundreds of thousands in coronavirus assist. He used it to purchase a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded guilty in July 2021. As part of his plea agreement, 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 brokers throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in worry during a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news release when Staley pleaded responsible. “In the present day, 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 wonderful and to provide again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical drugs, multiple bags of empty pill capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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