San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus unfold and other people isolated of 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 business, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” despite the remedy changing into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a approach 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 provider, prosecutors stated.

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

“At the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines have been available, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman mentioned in a news launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of your complete medical occupation.”

Staley’s legal professional did not instantly respond to requests for remark late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly 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 “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement prompted demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those that wanted it for non-covid well being issues. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an efficient therapy for covid and did not forestall folks from changing into sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal agents started looking into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class beauty improvements at reasonably priced prices,” court docket documents present, and offered companies including Botox, fats switch, hair removal and tattoo removal.

The covid remedy kit got here with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional charge), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, records present.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the remedy kit, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing treatment” that would preserve someone immune from covid for at the least six weeks, in response to court docket records.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the spy, court docket paperwork present. “It’s arduous to consider, it’s nearly too good to be true. But it surely’s a exceptional scientific phenomenon.”

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

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

Through the call, Staley additionally instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “acquired the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data 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 mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 family members — for $4,000, according to courtroom paperwork.

A Florida man received thousands and thousands 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 also admitted to posing as one in every of his workers 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 agents throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in worry during a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner said in a news launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “At the moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a fast buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 high quality and to present back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s kit. He also had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medication, a number of baggage of empty pill capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

In accordance with records from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been quickly suspended by a court docket order.