San Diego doctor 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 hands on a “miracle treatment,” in keeping with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy kits,” regardless of the medicine changing into 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 language provider, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“At the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines had been accessible, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a information release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of your complete medical profession.”

Staley’s lawyer did not instantly reply to requests for comment late Monday.

How false hope unfold about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the consequences 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, starting within the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought on demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those that needed it for non-covid health issues. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective remedy for covid and didn't prevent folks 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 Beach Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class magnificence improvements at inexpensive costs,” court docket paperwork present, and provided providers together with Botox, fats switch, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

The covid therapy package got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, data show.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of many emails and inquired concerning the treatment equipment, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that may hold somebody immune from covid for no less than six weeks, according to court docket records.

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

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the treatment was a “guaranteed” cure for covid, Staley said yes however certified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court data show.

Through the call, Staley additionally informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “acquired the last 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 sufficient to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later provided 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 5 family members — for $4,000, according to court documents.

A Florida man acquired tens of millions in coronavirus support. He used it to purchase a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded guilty in July 2021. As part of his plea settlement, Staley also admitted to posing as one in all his workers 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 through the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed cure for COVID-19 to people gripped in concern throughout a world pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner said in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “In the present day, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 wonderful and to provide back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s equipment. He also had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical drugs, multiple bags of empty capsule capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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