San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the treatment becoming increasingly scarce. However Staley had a method of getting it, he later informed 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 yr of house confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty final 12 months.

“On the top of the pandemic, before vaccines have been accessible, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman mentioned in a information launch. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of your complete medical occupation.”

Staley’s legal professional didn't immediately reply to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often 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, leading to shortages and finally affecting those that wanted it for non-covid health problems. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective treatment for covid and did not prevent people from turning into sick.

In accordance with prosecutors, federal brokers started wanting into Staley after concerned prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class magnificence improvements at affordable prices,” courtroom paperwork present, and offered services including Botox, fats switch, hair removing and tattoo removing.

The covid treatment kit got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra charge), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, records show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of many emails and inquired about the therapy equipment, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing remedy” that will preserve somebody immune from covid for not less than six weeks, in keeping with court docket data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the spy, court docket documents present. “It’s onerous to consider, it’s nearly too good to be true. However it’s a exceptional clinical phenomenon.”

He added that the virus “actually disappears in hours” after a person takes the drug.

When asked by the agent whether the medication was a “assured” treatment for covid, Staley mentioned sure but certified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are no guarantees in life,” courtroom information show.

In the course of the call, Staley additionally informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information 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 provided the agent prescriptions for generic variations 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 relations — for $4,000, in response to court documents.

A Florida man received hundreds of thousands in coronavirus assist. 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 one in every of his workers 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 in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed cure for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in concern during a global pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “Right now, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a fast buck.”

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

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