San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and other people remoted of their homes, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his arms on a “miracle cure,” in accordance with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the medicine turning into increasingly scarce. But Staley had a approach of getting it, he later advised an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese language provider, prosecutors stated.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines were obtainable, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman said in a news release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of all the medical profession.”

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

How false hope unfold about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the results 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, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought on 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 will not be an efficient remedy for covid and did not forestall individuals from becoming sick.

In accordance with prosecutors, federal brokers began looking into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class magnificence improvements at inexpensive prices,” courtroom documents show, and offered services together with Botox, fats transfer, hair removing and tattoo elimination.

The covid remedy 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, records present.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of the emails and inquired concerning the remedy kit, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb cure” that might preserve somebody immune from covid for at least six weeks, based on courtroom information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the undercover agent, courtroom paperwork show. “It’s exhausting to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a remarkable clinical phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the remedy was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley stated sure but certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court data show.

In the course of the name, Staley also informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “got the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records present, 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 provided 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 relations — for $4,000, in line with court docket documents.

A Florida man obtained millions in coronavirus aid. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded guilty in July 2021. As part of his plea settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as certainly 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 during the investigation.

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

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and to offer again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s equipment. He also had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical drugs, multiple baggage of empty pill capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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