San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and people isolated of their homes, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle remedy,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy kits,” regardless of the remedy changing into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a approach of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese language provider, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“On the top of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines have been obtainable, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman mentioned in a information launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of your complete medical occupation.”

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

How false hope spread about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the implications that adopted

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, beginning within the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement precipitated demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and in the end affecting those that wanted it for non-covid well being problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine will not be an effective remedy for covid and didn't stop individuals from turning into sick.

In keeping with prosecutors, federal agents began trying into Staley after involved clients alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class magnificence innovations at affordable costs,” court docket paperwork present, and supplied providers together with Botox, fat switch, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

The covid therapy package got here 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 the emails and inquired in regards to the treatment equipment, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that might preserve someone immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, according to court docket data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the spy, court docket paperwork present. “It’s arduous to consider, it’s nearly too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a outstanding scientific 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 “assured” cure for covid, Staley stated sure but certified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court docket information show.

In the course of the name, Staley additionally told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “got the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information present, 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 versions 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 family members — for $4,000, in keeping with courtroom documents.

A Florida man received hundreds of thousands in coronavirus support. He used it to buy 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 additionally admitted to posing as one of his staff 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 agents throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to people gripped in concern during a global pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “Right now, 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 advantageous and to provide back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He additionally had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, multiple luggage of empty capsule capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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