San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the remedy changing into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a method of getting it, he later instructed an undercover federal agent. He deliberate 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 yr of house confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible final year.

“On the top of the pandemic, before vaccines have been available, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a news release. “He abused his position of trust 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 spread about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the consequences that followed

Hydroxychloroquine is usually 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 prompted demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those that wanted it for non-covid health issues. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an efficient treatment for covid and didn't forestall folks from becoming sick.

In keeping with prosecutors, federal brokers began looking into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class magnificence improvements at affordable costs,” court paperwork present, and supplied companies together with Botox, fats switch, hair removing and tattoo removing.

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

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the therapy 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 “wonderful cure” that would preserve someone immune from covid for at least six weeks, in line with court docket data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley mentioned to the spy, court docket paperwork show. “It’s laborious to imagine, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it surely’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 medication was a “assured” treatment for covid, Staley mentioned yes however certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” courtroom data show.

Throughout the call, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “received the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data 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 variations 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, according to court paperwork.

A Florida man acquired hundreds of thousands in coronavirus help. 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 considered one of his staff 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 throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in fear throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “Today, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 positive and to present again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s kit. He additionally had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical medication, a number of luggage of empty tablet capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

In keeping with data from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been quickly suspended by a court order.