San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and folks remoted in their homes, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle cure,” in line with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

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

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

“On the peak of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines have been out there, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman stated in a news launch. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of your entire medical profession.”

Staley’s legal professional didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement prompted demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those that needed it for non-covid health problems. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine will not be an effective treatment for covid and did not forestall people from turning into sick.

In keeping with prosecutors, federal agents started looking into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class magnificence improvements at affordable prices,” courtroom paperwork show, and supplied services including Botox, fat transfer, hair removing and tattoo removing.

The covid therapy package got here with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra fee), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety drugs, information show.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired concerning the treatment kit, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing cure” that might hold somebody immune from covid for at least six weeks, in keeping with court records.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the secret agent, court paperwork show. “It’s laborious to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. However it’s a exceptional medical phenomenon.”

He added that the virus “actually disappears in hours” after a person takes the drug.

When requested by the agent whether the treatment was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley stated sure but certified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there aren't any guarantees in life,” court docket records show.

During 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,” information show, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “candy potato extract.” He added that the powder was enough to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later offered the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, despite by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, in line with court paperwork.

A Florida man acquired thousands and thousands in coronavirus aid. 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 agreement, Staley also admitted to posing as one in every of his workers 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 throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to people gripped in worry throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “Today, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a fast buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 positive and to provide again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s equipment. He also needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medication, a number of bags of empty tablet capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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