San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the medicine becoming 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 language provider, prosecutors stated.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines have been out there, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman mentioned in a news launch. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of all the medical occupation.”

Staley’s legal professional did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to folks with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting within the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought on demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and ultimately affecting those who wanted it for non-covid health issues. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine is just not an efficient treatment for covid and did not stop people from becoming sick.

In line with prosecutors, federal agents began looking into Staley after concerned prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class magnificence innovations at affordable costs,” courtroom documents present, and supplied services including Botox, fats transfer, hair removing and tattoo removal.

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

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of many emails and inquired about the remedy package, investigators mentioned. 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 might maintain somebody immune from covid for at the least six weeks, in accordance with court information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley said to the secret agent, courtroom paperwork present. “It’s onerous to believe, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it surely’s a exceptional clinical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether the remedy was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley mentioned yes but qualified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” courtroom data present.

In the course of the call, Staley additionally advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “bought the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data present, 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 supplied the agent prescriptions for generic variations 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, according to court docket documents.

A Florida man received tens of 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 additionally admitted to posing as one of his employees 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 brokers throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in concern during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a information release when Staley pleaded guilty. “In the present day, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a rip-off to make a fast buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 nice and to provide back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical drugs, a number of luggage of empty capsule capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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