San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the medication turning into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a means of getting it, he later instructed an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines have been out there, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman stated in a information release. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of the complete medical career.”

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

How false hope unfold about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the results that followed

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to people 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 “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement triggered demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those who wanted it for non-covid well being problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine is not an efficient therapy for covid and didn't stop people from turning into sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal agents started wanting into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class magnificence innovations at reasonably priced prices,” courtroom documents show, and supplied services including Botox, fat switch, hair removing and tattoo removing.

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

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the remedy package, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful remedy” that may maintain someone immune from covid for not less than six weeks, in line with courtroom information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the secret agent, courtroom documents show. “It’s laborious to imagine, it’s nearly too good to be true. But it surely’s a exceptional scientific phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the medication was a “guaranteed” cure for covid, Staley said yes however certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there aren't any ensures in life,” court docket information present.

During the call, Staley also advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “obtained the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information 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 managed substance, despite by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, in response to courtroom documents.

A Florida man obtained millions in coronavirus help. 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 in all 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 supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured remedy for COVID-19 to people gripped in worry during a world pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “Today, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 superb and to offer again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s kit. He also had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medicine, multiple baggage of empty tablet capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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