San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus spread and people isolated of their properties, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle treatment,” in response to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

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

Staley was sentenced last week to 30 days in jail and a 12 months of home confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty last yr.

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines had been out there, this doctor sought to revenue from patients’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman stated in a news release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of your complete medical occupation.”

Staley’s attorney did not immediately respond to requests for remark late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to folks with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with 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 about demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and in the end affecting those who needed it for non-covid health issues. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine isn't an efficient remedy for covid and did not prevent individuals from becoming sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal brokers began wanting into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class beauty improvements at affordable prices,” court paperwork show, and offered providers together with Botox, fats transfer, hair removal and tattoo removing.

The covid treatment kit came with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, data present.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of many emails and inquired in regards to the remedy package, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing remedy” that might maintain someone immune from covid for not less than six weeks, in response to court docket records.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the undercover agent, court paperwork present. “It’s arduous to consider, it’s almost too good to be true. However it’s a outstanding 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 medication was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley said sure but certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court records present.

In the course of the call, Staley also instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “bought 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 offered the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, in keeping with court docket paperwork.

A Florida man acquired thousands and thousands in coronavirus help. 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 agents in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured remedy for COVID-19 to people gripped in worry during a world pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information release when Staley pleaded guilty. “At this time, 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 positive and to give again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s equipment. He also needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical drugs, multiple baggage of empty capsule capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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