San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and people remoted of their homes, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle remedy,” in line 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 “therapy kits,” despite the treatment turning into more and more scarce. However Staley had a method of getting it, he later advised an undercover federal agent. He deliberate 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 jail and a year of dwelling confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty last year.

“At the top of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines were out there, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a information release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of all the medical occupation.”

Staley’s attorney didn't immediately reply to requests for remark late Monday.

How false hope unfold 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 treat 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 precipitated demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those that needed it for non-covid health problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine isn't an effective remedy for covid and didn't stop folks from becoming sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal agents began looking into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class magnificence improvements at inexpensive costs,” court docket paperwork present, and supplied providers including Botox, fat transfer, hair removing and tattoo removing.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of many emails and inquired in regards to the remedy kit, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb cure” that may hold someone immune from covid for at least six weeks, in accordance with court data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the undercover agent, courtroom documents present. “It’s hard to believe, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it surely’s a outstanding scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the medicine was a “guaranteed” remedy for covid, Staley mentioned yes but qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are no guarantees in life,” courtroom information show.

During the name, Staley additionally advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “got the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data show, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “candy 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 by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, according to court paperwork.

A Florida man obtained thousands and 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 certainly one of his workers to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors stated. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal brokers through the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed remedy for COVID-19 to folks gripped in concern during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a news launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “At the moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and to provide back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s kit. He also 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 stated.

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