San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and folks remoted of their properties, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his arms on a “miracle cure,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy kits,” despite the medicine becoming increasingly scarce. However Staley had a manner of getting it, he later instructed 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 12 months of home confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible final 12 months.

“On the top of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines have been accessible, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a information release. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of your entire medical occupation.”

Staley’s lawyer didn't instantly reply to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning within the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement prompted demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those that wanted it for non-covid health problems. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine just isn't an effective therapy for covid and didn't forestall people from changing into sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal agents started looking into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class beauty innovations at inexpensive prices,” courtroom paperwork present, and provided services including Botox, fats transfer, hair removing and tattoo elimination.

The covid therapy kit came with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra fee), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, data show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the therapy equipment, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb cure” that will hold somebody immune from covid for at the least six weeks, in accordance with courtroom data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the undercover agent, courtroom paperwork present. “It’s arduous to imagine, it’s nearly too good to be true. But it’s a outstanding scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the remedy was a “guaranteed” cure for covid, Staley mentioned yes but qualified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” courtroom records present.

Through the name, Staley also instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “got the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data 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 provided the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 family members — for $4,000, in accordance with court paperwork.

A Florida man received millions in coronavirus aid. 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 agreement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one of his staff to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors stated. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal agents in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured remedy for COVID-19 to folks gripped in worry throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner said in a news launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “Today, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 superb and to provide again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s equipment. He also had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical medication, multiple bags of empty capsule capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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