San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and other people remoted in their houses, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle remedy,” in keeping with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the treatment 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 supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

Staley was sentenced final week to 30 days in jail and a year of residence confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible final year.

“At the height of the pandemic, before vaccines were obtainable, this physician sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman stated in a information release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of the complete medical career.”

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

How false hope spread about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the results that followed

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting within the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement induced demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those who wanted it for non-covid well being issues. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective remedy for covid and didn't stop individuals from changing into sick.

According to prosecutors, federal brokers began wanting into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class magnificence improvements at reasonably priced prices,” court paperwork present, and supplied services together with Botox, fats switch, hair removal and tattoo removing.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the treatment package, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that may preserve somebody immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, in response to court docket information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the secret agent, court docket paperwork present. “It’s arduous to consider, it’s virtually too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a outstanding scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the remedy was a “guaranteed” treatment for covid, Staley said sure however qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” courtroom data show.

Through the call, Staley also informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “received the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data present, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “candy 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 managed substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, in line with court docket documents.

A Florida man acquired hundreds of thousands in coronavirus assist. 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 also admitted to posing as 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 brokers during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to people gripped in concern during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a news release when Staley pleaded responsible. “Immediately, 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 wonderful and to offer back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s equipment. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical medicine, a number of bags of empty pill capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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