San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and other people remoted of their homes, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his hands on a “miracle remedy,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy kits,” despite the medicine turning into more and more scarce. But Staley had a manner of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“On the top of the pandemic, before vaccines were out there, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman stated in a information launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the entire medical career.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting within the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought on demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and ultimately affecting those that wanted it for non-covid health problems. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine is just not an effective therapy for covid and did not forestall folks from turning into sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal agents began trying into Staley after involved clients alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class magnificence improvements at affordable prices,” court docket documents present, and offered services together with Botox, fats transfer, hair elimination and tattoo removing.

The covid treatment kit got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra fee), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, records show.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of many emails and inquired about the treatment package, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful cure” that would maintain someone immune from covid for no less than six weeks, based on court docket data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the secret agent, courtroom documents show. “It’s arduous to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. But it surely’s a remarkable clinical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether the medicine was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley said yes however certified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there aren't any ensures in life,” court data show.

In the course of the name, Staley also instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data 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 supplied the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 family members — for $4,000, in response to courtroom documents.

A Florida man acquired thousands and thousands in coronavirus support. He used it to purchase a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded guilty in July 2021. As part of his plea agreement, Staley also admitted to posing as certainly one of his employees 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 through the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed cure for COVID-19 to folks gripped in fear throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner said in a information launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “Immediately, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 nice and to give again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s equipment. He additionally needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medication, multiple bags of empty tablet capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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