San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and people isolated in their houses, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle treatment,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the treatment becoming increasingly scarce. But Staley had a approach 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 supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines were obtainable, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman stated in a information release. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the whole medical occupation.”

Staley’s attorney did not immediately reply to requests for comment late Monday.

How false hope spread about hydroxychloroquine to deal with covid-19 — and the implications that adopted

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning within the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement induced demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those who needed it for non-covid health issues. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine is just not an effective treatment for covid and didn't prevent people from turning into sick.

According to prosecutors, federal agents began trying into Staley after involved clients alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class magnificence improvements at reasonably priced prices,” court docket paperwork present, and provided companies including Botox, fats switch, hair removal and tattoo removing.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the treatment kit, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful cure” that will maintain somebody immune from covid for no less than six weeks, in response to court docket information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the undercover agent, court paperwork present. “It’s exhausting to believe, it’s nearly too good to be true. But it’s a outstanding clinical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the medicine was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley mentioned yes however qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are no guarantees in life,” courtroom records present.

In the course of the call, Staley also advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “bought the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records present, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “candy 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 variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five relations — for $4,000, in response to court docket paperwork.

A Florida man received 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 settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one in every of his staff 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 brokers in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed remedy for COVID-19 to people gripped in concern during a world pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner stated in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “In the present day, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as 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 fantastic and to offer back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s equipment. He additionally had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical medication, a number of luggage of empty pill capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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