San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and folks remoted of their houses, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his arms on a “miracle cure,” in line with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the medication becoming increasingly scarce. However Staley had a means of getting it, he later instructed an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese supplier, prosecutors stated.

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

“At the top of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines have been available, this physician sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman stated in a information release. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of your entire medical profession.”

Staley’s attorney did not instantly respond to requests for comment late Monday.

How false hope unfold about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the consequences that adopted

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat 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 caused demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those that needed it for non-covid health issues. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine is just not an effective treatment for covid and did not prevent individuals from turning into sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal brokers started wanting into Staley after involved clients alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class beauty innovations at affordable prices,” court docket documents show, and supplied services together with Botox, fat transfer, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

The covid remedy kit came with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, records show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired concerning the remedy package, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful remedy” that may hold someone immune from covid for a minimum of six weeks, based on court docket data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the spy, court documents show. “It’s laborious to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. But it surely’s a remarkable medical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the remedy was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley stated yes but qualified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” courtroom information present.

During the call, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records 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 offered the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and five relations — for $4,000, based on court docket paperwork.

A Florida man received tens of millions in coronavirus assist. 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 also admitted to posing as certainly one of his staff to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors mentioned. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal agents during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed remedy for COVID-19 to folks gripped in worry throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge 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 rip-off to make a fast buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 advantageous and to present back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, a number of luggage of empty tablet 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 courtroom order.