San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus spread and people remoted in their homes, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his hands 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 “treatment kits,” regardless of the treatment turning into increasingly scarce. But Staley had a method of getting it, he later advised an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese provider, prosecutors said.

Staley was sentenced last week to 30 days in jail and a 12 months of house confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty final 12 months.

“On the peak of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines have been obtainable, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman said in a information release. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of all the medical occupation.”

Staley’s legal professional did not immediately reply to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting within the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought about demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those that needed it for non-covid health issues. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine isn't an efficient treatment for covid and didn't forestall individuals from becoming sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal brokers started trying into Staley after involved clients alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class beauty improvements at affordable prices,” courtroom paperwork present, and supplied providers together with Botox, fats switch, hair removal 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 fee), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, data show.

In late March 2020, an undercover 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 phone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that would hold someone immune from covid for at least six weeks, according to courtroom data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the undercover agent, court documents present. “It’s hard to consider, it’s nearly too good to be true. But it surely’s a remarkable scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the remedy was a “guaranteed” remedy for covid, Staley stated sure however certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are no guarantees in life,” court data present.

Through the call, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “bought the last 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 offered the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, despite by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 family members — for $4,000, in response to courtroom documents.

A Florida man acquired hundreds of 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 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 in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed treatment for COVID-19 to people gripped in worry during a world pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner said in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “Right now, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a quick buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 positive and to provide 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 various pharmaceutical drugs, multiple bags of empty capsule capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

Based on records from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been quickly suspended by a court order.