San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and people remoted of their homes, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle treatment,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy kits,” regardless of the medicine turning into more and more scarce. However Staley had a means of getting it, he later told an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese provider, prosecutors said.

Staley was sentenced last week to 30 days in prison and a 12 months of dwelling confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible final year.

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines had been out there, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman mentioned in a news launch. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of your entire medical occupation.”

Staley’s lawyer did not 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 usually prescribed to folks with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement triggered demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and ultimately affecting those who wanted it for non-covid well being issues. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine isn't an efficient treatment for covid and did not stop individuals from changing into sick.

In keeping with prosecutors, federal agents started looking into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class beauty innovations at reasonably priced costs,” court docket paperwork present, and supplied companies together with Botox, fat transfer, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

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

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the treatment kit, 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 “superb remedy” that may hold someone immune from covid for not less than six weeks, in keeping with courtroom information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the spy, courtroom paperwork show. “It’s onerous to believe, it’s nearly too good to be true. However it’s a outstanding clinical phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the medication was a “guaranteed” remedy for covid, Staley mentioned sure however qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there aren't any guarantees in life,” courtroom data present.

Through the call, Staley additionally advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “obtained the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information show, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “sweet potato extract.” He added that the powder was enough to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later offered 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 — enough for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, according to court docket paperwork.

A Florida man obtained thousands and thousands in coronavirus help. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded responsible in July 2021. As part of his plea settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as certainly 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 agents through the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in fear throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner said in a news release when Staley pleaded responsible. “As we speak, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a rip-off to make a quick buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 fantastic and to present back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He additionally had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical medicine, multiple baggage of empty tablet capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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