San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and other people isolated of their houses, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his hands on a “miracle treatment,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

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

Staley was sentenced last week to 30 days in prison and a yr of dwelling confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible final year.

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines had been accessible, this physician sought to revenue from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a information launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the whole medical occupation.”

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

How false hope spread about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the results that adopted

Hydroxychloroquine is usually 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 “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought on demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and ultimately affecting those who needed it for non-covid well being problems. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine isn't an efficient treatment for covid and did not forestall folks from becoming sick.

In line with prosecutors, federal brokers started wanting into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class magnificence innovations at inexpensive costs,” courtroom documents present, and offered companies together with Botox, fat transfer, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the treatment equipment, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing remedy” that might preserve somebody immune from covid for at the least six weeks, in response to court docket data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the undercover agent, court docket documents show. “It’s exhausting to consider, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it surely’s a exceptional scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the medicine was a “guaranteed” treatment for covid, Staley said yes however qualified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” court information show.

In the course of the call, Staley additionally instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “obtained the final 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 enough to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later supplied the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and five relations — for $4,000, based on courtroom paperwork.

A Florida man received tens of millions in coronavirus help. 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 additionally admitted to posing as considered one 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 brokers throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in fear during a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news release when Staley pleaded responsible. “At the moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and to present back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s kit. He additionally had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical medication, multiple luggage of empty capsule capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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