San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and folks remoted in their houses, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his hands on a “miracle cure,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the treatment changing into more and more scarce. However Staley had a way 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 supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“On the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines were obtainable, this physician sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman mentioned in a news release. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of your entire medical career.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often 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 brought on demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and in the end affecting those who needed it for non-covid health problems. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine will not be an efficient treatment for covid and did not stop people from turning into sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal agents began trying into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class beauty innovations at reasonably priced costs,” court docket documents present, and offered providers including Botox, fats transfer, hair removal and tattoo elimination.

The covid remedy equipment got here with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional fee), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, data show.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of many emails and inquired in regards to the treatment kit, 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 cure” that might keep someone immune from covid for a minimum of six weeks, according to courtroom information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the secret agent, court docket paperwork show. “It’s hard to imagine, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it’s a exceptional medical phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the treatment was a “guaranteed” remedy for covid, Staley said yes but qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” courtroom records present.

Through the name, Staley additionally informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “received the last 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 sufficient to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later offered the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, according to courtroom documents.

A Florida man acquired millions in coronavirus aid. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

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

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in worry throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “Today, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a rip-off to make a quick buck.”

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

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