San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and people remoted in their homes, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle treatment,” in accordance with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy kits,” despite the medication turning into more and more scarce. However Staley had a approach 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 final week to 30 days in prison and a yr of home confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible final yr.

“At the height of the pandemic, before vaccines had been accessible, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman said in a information launch. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of your entire medical career.”

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 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 caused demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those who needed it for non-covid well being issues. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine is just not an efficient treatment for covid and did not forestall people from changing into sick.

In line with prosecutors, federal agents started trying into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty improvements at reasonably priced costs,” courtroom paperwork show, and offered providers together with Botox, fat switch, hair removing and tattoo removal.

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

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of many emails and inquired about the therapy 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 “wonderful remedy” that might preserve somebody immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, in line with courtroom information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the secret agent, court documents present. “It’s hard to imagine, it’s almost too good to be true. But it surely’s a exceptional clinical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether the medicine was a “guaranteed” cure for covid, Staley said sure however certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court docket information show.

Throughout the call, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “bought the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information present, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “sweet potato extract.” He added that the powder was sufficient to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later provided the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 family members — for $4,000, in keeping with court paperwork.

A Florida man obtained thousands and thousands 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 additionally admitted to posing as one in all 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 in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured remedy for COVID-19 to people gripped in concern throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information release when Staley pleaded guilty. “At the moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 effective and to give again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical drugs, a number of luggage of empty capsule capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

According to data from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been quickly suspended by a courtroom order.