San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and folks remoted in their homes, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle treatment,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

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

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

“At the height of the pandemic, before vaccines were obtainable, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman said in a information launch. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of your complete medical career.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to folks with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement precipitated demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those that needed it for non-covid well being issues. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine is not an efficient therapy for covid and didn't stop individuals from changing into sick.

In line with prosecutors, federal agents started looking into Staley after involved clients alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class beauty innovations at affordable costs,” court docket paperwork present, and supplied services including Botox, fat switch, hair removing and tattoo removal.

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

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of many emails and inquired concerning the remedy kit, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful remedy” that may hold someone immune from covid for no less than six weeks, based on court records.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the secret agent, court paperwork present. “It’s onerous to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. However 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 the medicine was a “assured” treatment for covid, Staley stated sure however certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” court records present.

During the name, Staley additionally told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “acquired the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records show, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “sweet potato extract.” He added that the powder was enough to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later offered the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five relations — for $4,000, in keeping with courtroom documents.

A Florida man obtained tens of millions in coronavirus help. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

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

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in concern throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner said in a information launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “At present, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a 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 provide again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s equipment. He also had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical medication, multiple bags of empty pill capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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