San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

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

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

“On the top of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines have been accessible, this doctor sought to revenue from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman stated in a information launch. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of all the medical profession.”

Staley’s attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to folks with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat 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 caused demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and in the end affecting those who needed it for non-covid well being problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective treatment for covid and did not forestall individuals from turning into sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal agents began wanting into Staley after involved customers alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class magnificence improvements at reasonably priced prices,” courtroom paperwork show, and provided companies together with Botox, fats transfer, hair removing and tattoo removal.

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

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of the emails and inquired about the therapy kit, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb cure” that will hold somebody immune from covid for not less than six weeks, based on court information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley mentioned to the undercover agent, court docket documents show. “It’s arduous to imagine, it’s nearly too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a outstanding scientific phenomenon.”

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

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

In the course of the name, Staley also informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “bought 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 sufficient to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later supplied the agent prescriptions for generic variations 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 relations — for $4,000, in response to courtroom paperwork.

A Florida man obtained hundreds of 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 a part of his plea agreement, Staley also admitted to posing as considered one of his staff 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 throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in worry throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner stated in a information release when Staley pleaded guilty. “At this time, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 tremendous and to give again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He also had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical medicine, a number of bags of empty capsule capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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