San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and folks remoted in their houses, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle treatment,” in accordance with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” despite the medicine turning into more and more scarce. But Staley had a way of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He planned 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 home confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty final yr.

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines were accessible, this physician sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman stated in a information release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of all the medical occupation.”

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

How false hope unfold about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the implications that adopted

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning in the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement triggered demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those who wanted it for non-covid well being problems. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine will not be an efficient remedy for covid and did not stop folks from turning into sick.

In line with prosecutors, federal brokers began looking into Staley after involved customers alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class beauty innovations at reasonably priced costs,” courtroom documents show, and supplied providers including Botox, fats switch, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

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

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of the emails and inquired about the remedy package, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb cure” that would maintain somebody immune from covid for a minimum of six weeks, in keeping with courtroom information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the secret agent, court docket documents show. “It’s arduous to consider, it’s almost too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a exceptional clinical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the medicine was a “assured” treatment for covid, Staley stated yes but certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court data show.

During the name, Staley additionally informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “got the last 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 offered the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, in keeping with court docket documents.

A Florida man obtained hundreds of thousands in coronavirus aid. He used it to purchase a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded responsible in July 2021. As part of his plea settlement, Staley also admitted to posing as one of his employees to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors said. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal agents throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed treatment for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in worry throughout a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner said in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “At the moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a fast buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 high quality and to offer back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medication, multiple baggage 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 quickly suspended by a court order.