San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and other people remoted in their houses, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle cure,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the remedy turning into increasingly scarce. But Staley had a approach of getting it, he later instructed an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese language provider, prosecutors said.

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

“On the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines were accessible, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman stated in a news release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of your complete medical occupation.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning in the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement caused demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those who wanted it for non-covid health issues. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an efficient therapy for covid and did not stop folks from turning into sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal agents started wanting into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class beauty innovations at affordable prices,” court docket paperwork present, and supplied services including Botox, fat transfer, hair removal and tattoo removing.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the therapy equipment, investigators mentioned. 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 hold someone immune from covid for at the least six weeks, in response to courtroom data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the undercover agent, courtroom documents present. “It’s exhausting to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a outstanding medical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the medication was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley said yes however qualified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are not any ensures in life,” court docket records present.

During the call, Staley additionally advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “received the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records 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 — sufficient for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, according to court docket paperwork.

A Florida man obtained hundreds of thousands in coronavirus support. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded guilty in July 2021. As part of his plea agreement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one among 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 through the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in concern throughout a world pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner said in a information launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “Today, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a fast buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 wonderful and to present again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He also needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medicine, a number of bags of empty tablet capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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