San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the medication becoming increasingly scarce. But 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 assistance of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors said.

Staley was sentenced last week to 30 days in prison and a 12 months of house confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty last yr.

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

Staley’s attorney did not immediately reply to requests for remark late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly 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 “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement triggered demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and ultimately affecting those that needed it for non-covid well being problems. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine just isn't an effective therapy for covid and didn't forestall folks from changing into sick.

In keeping with prosecutors, federal brokers started looking into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty improvements at reasonably priced costs,” court docket paperwork present, and supplied services including Botox, fats switch, hair removal and tattoo removal.

The covid treatment package got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional charge), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety drugs, information show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the therapy kit, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful cure” that might hold someone immune from covid for not less than six weeks, in accordance with courtroom records.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the spy, courtroom documents present. “It’s hard to consider, it’s nearly too good to be true. But it’s a exceptional scientific phenomenon.”

He added that the virus “literally disappears in hours” after a person takes the drug.

When asked by the agent whether or not the medication was a “guaranteed” cure for covid, Staley stated yes but certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there aren't any ensures in life,” court records show.

Throughout the call, Staley also informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records show, 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 versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, in line with court docket documents.

A Florida man acquired thousands and thousands in coronavirus support. 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 settlement, Staley also admitted to posing as one in every 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 agents in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed remedy for COVID-19 to folks gripped in concern during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “Today, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a fast buck.”

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

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