San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and folks remoted of their properties, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle treatment,” in accordance with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the remedy changing into more and more scarce. But Staley had a means of getting it, he later told an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors stated.

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

“At the height of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines had been out there, this doctor sought to revenue from patients’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman said in a information release. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of all the medical career.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning within the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement induced demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those who needed it for non-covid well being problems. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine is just not an efficient remedy for covid and did not prevent folks from turning into sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal agents started looking into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class magnificence innovations at inexpensive prices,” court docket paperwork show, and provided services together with Botox, fats transfer, hair removing and tattoo elimination.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of many emails and inquired concerning the remedy package, investigators said. 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 maintain someone immune from covid for a minimum of six weeks, in line with court information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the undercover agent, court docket documents present. “It’s laborious to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. But it surely’s a remarkable clinical phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the medicine was a “guaranteed” remedy for covid, Staley mentioned sure however qualified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court docket information show.

During the call, Staley also instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “got the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records present, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “sweet potato extract.” He added that the powder was enough 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, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, in accordance with court paperwork.

A Florida man obtained 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 a part of his plea settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one among his staff 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 throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured remedy for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in worry throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “In the present day, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a fast buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 fantastic and to provide back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s equipment. He also needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical medication, multiple luggage of empty pill capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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