San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and folks remoted in their houses, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle remedy,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the remedy becoming increasingly scarce. However Staley had a way of getting it, he later advised an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese provider, prosecutors said.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines have been obtainable, this physician sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman mentioned in a information launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the complete medical profession.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to folks 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 “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought on demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and ultimately affecting those that wanted it for non-covid health problems. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine is not an efficient treatment for covid and didn't forestall folks from changing into sick.

According to prosecutors, federal agents started wanting into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty innovations at affordable costs,” courtroom documents show, and provided companies including Botox, fats switch, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

The covid remedy kit came with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional charge), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, data show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the treatment kit, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb remedy” that would maintain somebody immune from covid for no less than six weeks, based on court docket information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the spy, court paperwork present. “It’s arduous to imagine, it’s virtually too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a remarkable clinical phenomenon.”

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

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

During the name, Staley additionally informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “received the final 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 enough to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later supplied the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, in response to court docket paperwork.

A Florida man acquired thousands and thousands in coronavirus aid. 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 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 brokers in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in fear during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner stated in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “Right now, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as 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 advantageous and to offer back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medication, multiple luggage of empty pill capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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