San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and other people remoted in their properties, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his arms on a “miracle treatment,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the remedy turning into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a manner of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese language provider, prosecutors said.

Staley was sentenced last week to 30 days in prison and a yr of residence confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty last year.

“At the peak of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines had been obtainable, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman stated in a news launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the complete medical occupation.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to individuals 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 in the end affecting those that needed it for non-covid well being issues. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine is just not an efficient treatment for covid and did not prevent folks from turning into sick.

According to prosecutors, federal agents started trying into Staley after concerned prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class beauty innovations at affordable prices,” court docket documents present, and supplied services including Botox, fat switch, hair removal and tattoo elimination.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired concerning the treatment package, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing remedy” that might hold someone immune from covid for a minimum of six weeks, in response to courtroom records.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the spy, court docket paperwork present. “It’s arduous to believe, it’s nearly too good to be true. But it’s a remarkable medical 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 treatment was a “guaranteed” treatment for covid, Staley mentioned sure but certified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court docket records show.

During the name, Staley also informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “got 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 sufficient to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later supplied the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, in keeping with court docket documents.

A Florida man received thousands and thousands in coronavirus aid. He used it to purchase 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 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 throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to people gripped in worry during a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner said in a information launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “In the present day, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a 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 high quality and to offer back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medication, multiple bags of empty tablet capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

In keeping with information from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been briefly suspended by a courtroom order.