San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and other people isolated of their houses, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his hands on a “miracle cure,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the medicine changing into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a approach of getting it, he later told an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors stated.

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

“At the top of the pandemic, before vaccines were out there, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman mentioned in a information release. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of your complete medical profession.”

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

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

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, beginning within the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement induced demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those who needed it for non-covid health issues. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine is just not an effective remedy for covid and didn't stop individuals from changing into sick.

According to prosecutors, federal agents began wanting into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty improvements at reasonably priced prices,” court documents present, and offered services including Botox, fats switch, hair elimination and tattoo removing.

The covid treatment package came with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety drugs, information present.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of many emails and inquired about the treatment package, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful treatment” that would keep someone immune from covid for at the least six weeks, in accordance with courtroom data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the undercover agent, court docket paperwork present. “It’s hard to imagine, it’s almost too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a outstanding medical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether the remedy was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley said sure however certified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are no guarantees in life,” court information show.

Throughout the name, Staley also advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “bought the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data show, 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 controlled substance, despite by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 family members — for $4,000, according to court docket paperwork.

A Florida man received tens of 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 part of his plea agreement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one among 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 brokers during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to people gripped in worry during a world pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “Immediately, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 wonderful and to offer again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s kit. He also needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medicine, multiple baggage of empty tablet capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

In accordance with records from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been temporarily suspended by a courtroom order.