San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus spread and people isolated in their properties, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle remedy,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy kits,” despite the remedy becoming more and more scarce. However Staley had a manner 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 stated.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines were obtainable, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman said in a news launch. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of your entire medical profession.”

Staley’s attorney didn't instantly 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, starting within the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought about demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and in the end affecting those who wanted it for non-covid well being issues. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine is just not an effective therapy for covid and did not forestall individuals from turning into sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal brokers started wanting into Staley after involved clients alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class beauty improvements at affordable costs,” courtroom documents present, and provided companies including Botox, fats transfer, hair removal and tattoo removal.

The covid remedy equipment got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra fee), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, data present.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of many emails and inquired about the remedy equipment, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that may maintain somebody immune from covid for no less than six weeks, in line with court docket data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the undercover agent, court docket paperwork show. “It’s onerous 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 medication was a “assured” treatment for covid, Staley said yes however qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” courtroom data present.

Throughout the call, Staley also instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “got the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records 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 variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, in response to court docket paperwork.

A Florida man obtained 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 a part of his plea agreement, Staley also admitted to posing as considered 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 in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed treatment for COVID-19 to people gripped in concern throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “Right this moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a fast buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 fantastic and to present back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s kit. He also had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical drugs, a number of bags of empty tablet capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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