San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and people isolated of their homes, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle cure,” in response to 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,” despite the remedy changing 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 assistance of a Chinese supplier, prosecutors stated.

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

“On the peak of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines were available, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman stated in a news launch. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of the entire medical occupation.”

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

How false hope spread 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 deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement caused demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and ultimately affecting those that wanted it for non-covid well being issues. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine just isn't an effective therapy for covid and didn't forestall people from turning into sick.

According to prosecutors, federal agents started 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 reasonably priced costs,” court documents show, and provided services together with Botox, fat transfer, hair removal and tattoo removal.

The covid treatment kit came 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, information present.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of the emails and inquired about the therapy equipment, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing treatment” that would hold somebody immune from covid for a minimum of six weeks, based on court information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the undercover agent, court docket paperwork show. “It’s exhausting to believe, it’s nearly too good to be true. However it’s a remarkable medical phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the medication was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley stated yes however qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” court information show.

Throughout the name, Staley additionally advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “got the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information present, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “candy potato extract.” He added that the powder was enough to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later supplied the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, despite by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, in accordance with court docket documents.

A Florida man obtained millions 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 a part of his plea settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one in every of his staff 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 during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to folks gripped in fear throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a information release when Staley pleaded guilty. “Today, 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 effective and to present back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s package. He also had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical medicine, multiple luggage of empty tablet capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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