San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus unfold and other people isolated of their houses, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle cure,” in response to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the medication changing into more and more scarce. But Staley had a manner of getting it, he later told an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese supplier, prosecutors stated.

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

“At the top of the pandemic, before vaccines had been accessible, this physician sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman mentioned in a information launch. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of your entire medical career.”

Staley’s legal professional didn't instantly respond to requests for remark late Monday.

How false hope unfold about hydroxychloroquine to treat 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, beginning within the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought about demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those who needed it for non-covid health problems. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine just isn't an efficient remedy for covid and did not prevent people from becoming sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal brokers started wanting into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty innovations at affordable prices,” court documents show, and offered companies together with Botox, fat switch, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

The covid remedy package got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety drugs, information show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired concerning the treatment kit, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb remedy” that might preserve someone immune from covid for not less than six weeks, in keeping with court information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the secret agent, courtroom documents present. “It’s hard to imagine, it’s almost too good to be true. However it’s a remarkable scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the treatment was a “guaranteed” treatment for covid, Staley mentioned sure but certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” courtroom data present.

In the course of the call, Staley also instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “obtained the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information show, 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 versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, despite by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, based on court docket paperwork.

A Florida man acquired millions in coronavirus assist. He used it to buy 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 all his workers 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 throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in worry during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner stated in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “At the moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a 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 give back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s equipment. He additionally had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medication, multiple bags of empty capsule capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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