San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and people remoted in their houses, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his arms on a “miracle cure,” in accordance with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the treatment becoming increasingly scarce. But Staley had a means of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors said.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines had been out there, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman mentioned in a news release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of the whole medical occupation.”

Staley’s lawyer didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought about demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those who needed it for non-covid health issues. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine will not be an efficient treatment for covid and didn't forestall people from becoming sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal brokers started looking into Staley after involved customers alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class magnificence innovations at affordable costs,” court paperwork show, and supplied services including Botox, fats transfer, hair elimination and tattoo removal.

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

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of many emails and inquired in regards to the treatment equipment, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful cure” that will hold someone immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, in accordance with court docket data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the spy, court documents show. “It’s exhausting to believe, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it’s a outstanding scientific phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the medication was a “assured” remedy for covid, Staley mentioned yes but qualified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are no guarantees in life,” court records show.

Throughout the call, Staley also instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “bought the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data 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 offered the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, despite 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, in line with court docket documents.

A Florida man received thousands and thousands in coronavirus help. 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 additionally admitted to posing as one in all his staff 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 through the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured remedy for COVID-19 to folks gripped in worry during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a information release when Staley pleaded guilty. “As we speak, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as 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 tremendous and to give back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s equipment. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical medication, a number of luggage of empty tablet capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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