San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and other people remoted of their houses, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his arms on a “miracle treatment,” in line with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the remedy becoming more and more scarce. However Staley had a way of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese provider, prosecutors said.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines have been out there, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman mentioned in a information launch. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of the entire medical occupation.”

Staley’s legal professional did not immediately respond to requests for remark late Monday.

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

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 within the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement precipitated demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those who wanted it for non-covid health problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine isn't an effective treatment for covid and did not stop individuals from becoming sick.

In keeping with prosecutors, federal brokers started looking into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class magnificence innovations at reasonably priced prices,” court documents show, and provided companies including Botox, fat switch, hair elimination and tattoo removing.

The covid remedy equipment came with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional charge), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, information show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired concerning the treatment equipment, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful cure” that may hold someone immune from covid for not less than six weeks, according to court data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley mentioned to the undercover agent, court docket paperwork show. “It’s exhausting to believe, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it’s a exceptional clinical phenomenon.”

He added that the virus “literally disappears in hours” after an individual takes the drug.

When asked by the agent whether or not the remedy was a “assured” treatment for covid, Staley mentioned sure however certified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court records present.

Throughout the call, Staley also instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated 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 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 — enough for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, based on courtroom paperwork.

A Florida man acquired hundreds of thousands in coronavirus support. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded responsible in July 2021. As a part of his plea settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as 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 brokers throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to people gripped in fear throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner said in a news release when Staley pleaded responsible. “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 fantastic and to offer again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s kit. He additionally had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical drugs, multiple bags of empty pill capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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