San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and other people remoted in their properties, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle treatment,” in keeping with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the medicine becoming increasingly scarce. However Staley had a means of getting it, he later advised an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“At the height of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines had been obtainable, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman stated in a news launch. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of the entire medical occupation.”

Staley’s attorney didn't instantly respond to requests for remark late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning in 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 in the end affecting those who needed it for non-covid health issues. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine will not be an efficient remedy for covid and didn't prevent people from becoming sick.

According to prosecutors, federal brokers started looking into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty improvements at inexpensive costs,” court documents show, and offered services together with Botox, fat transfer, hair removing and tattoo removal.

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

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the therapy equipment, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb cure” that might preserve somebody immune from covid for a minimum of six weeks, in accordance with court docket information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the spy, court paperwork show. “It’s onerous to imagine, it’s almost too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a remarkable medical 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 medication was a “assured” remedy for covid, Staley said yes however certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” courtroom records present.

During the call, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “acquired the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records 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 offered the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, based on court paperwork.

A Florida man obtained 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 part of his plea settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one in all 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 brokers during the investigation.

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

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 positive and to provide again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s kit. He also needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, multiple luggage of empty capsule capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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