San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus spread and people isolated of their properties, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle remedy,” in keeping with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the remedy changing into more and more scarce. But Staley had a method of getting it, he later advised an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese language provider, prosecutors said.

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

“At the peak of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines had been accessible, this physician sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman said in a information release. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of all the medical career.”

Staley’s lawyer 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 commonly prescribed to folks with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat 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 induced demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and ultimately affecting those that wanted it for non-covid well being problems. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an efficient therapy for covid and didn't forestall people from becoming sick.

According to prosecutors, federal agents started 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 prices,” court docket documents show, and supplied companies including Botox, fats switch, hair removing and tattoo elimination.

The covid therapy kit came with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, information present.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of many emails and inquired about the remedy equipment, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful treatment” that might preserve someone immune from covid for at least six weeks, based on court docket data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the secret agent, court docket paperwork show. “It’s exhausting to believe, it’s nearly too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a outstanding clinical 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 “assured” remedy for covid, Staley stated yes but certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” courtroom records show.

Through the call, Staley additionally told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information present, 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 controlled substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.

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

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded responsible in July 2021. As part of his plea agreement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one in every 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 provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed remedy for COVID-19 to folks gripped in worry throughout a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “At the moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a fast 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 family’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical drugs, a number of luggage of empty pill capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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