San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and folks remoted in their homes, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his hands on a “miracle cure,” in keeping with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the remedy changing into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a means of getting it, he later told an undercover federal agent. He deliberate 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 jail and a yr of home confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible last yr.

“On the top of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman stated in a information release. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of the whole medical profession.”

Staley’s lawyer didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning in the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement caused demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those who wanted it for non-covid well being issues. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine just isn't an effective remedy for covid and did not forestall people from turning into sick.

According to prosecutors, federal brokers started trying into Staley after involved clients alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class magnificence improvements at reasonably priced prices,” court documents show, and provided companies including Botox, fat transfer, hair removing and tattoo elimination.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of many emails and inquired concerning the remedy kit, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful remedy” that may preserve somebody immune from covid for no less than six weeks, in line with courtroom records.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the spy, courtroom documents present. “It’s onerous to believe, it’s nearly too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a exceptional scientific 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 medication was a “assured” remedy for covid, Staley stated sure however qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are no guarantees in life,” court docket records present.

During the call, Staley additionally advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “bought 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 sufficient to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later provided the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, despite by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five family members — for $4,000, in line with court paperwork.

A Florida man received thousands and thousands in coronavirus aid. He used it to purchase 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 in every of his staff 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 provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to people gripped in fear throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a information launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “At this time, 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 nice and to give again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s kit. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical drugs, a number of baggage of empty capsule capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

In keeping with data from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been briefly suspended by a court order.