San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy 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 help of a Chinese provider, prosecutors said.

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

“On the top of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, this doctor sought to revenue from patients’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman stated in a news release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of your complete medical career.”

Staley’s lawyer didn't instantly reply to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly 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 within the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement induced demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those that needed it for non-covid well being issues. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective remedy for covid and did not stop folks from becoming sick.

According to prosecutors, federal brokers began trying into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class magnificence innovations at affordable costs,” court docket paperwork present, and offered services including Botox, fats switch, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

The covid treatment kit got here with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional price), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, information show.

In late March 2020, an undercover 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 “superb remedy” that will maintain somebody immune from covid for at the least six weeks, in response to court records.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the secret agent, courtroom paperwork show. “It’s arduous to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. But it surely’s a remarkable scientific 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 medicine was a “guaranteed” treatment for covid, Staley mentioned yes but qualified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” court data present.

Through the name, Staley additionally told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “obtained the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information present, 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 supplied the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, based on courtroom documents.

A Florida man obtained thousands and thousands in coronavirus aid. He used it to buy 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 additionally admitted to posing as one among his employees to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors said. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal brokers in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed remedy for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in worry throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news release when Staley pleaded responsible. “Immediately, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a fast buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 positive and to offer back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He also needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical drugs, a number of luggage of empty capsule capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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