San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” despite the medicine 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 assistance 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 final yr.

“At the top of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines were out there, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman said in a information launch. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of the entire medical profession.”

Staley’s attorney did not immediately reply to requests for comment late Monday.

How false hope spread about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the consequences that adopted

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, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement precipitated demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those who wanted it for non-covid well being problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine is not an effective remedy for covid and did not forestall folks from becoming sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal agents started looking into Staley after concerned prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty innovations at reasonably priced costs,” court docket paperwork present, and supplied providers including Botox, fats switch, hair removal and tattoo removal.

The covid remedy package got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional charge), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, data show.

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the remedy package, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing treatment” that may preserve somebody immune from covid for not less than six weeks, based on courtroom data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the secret agent, courtroom paperwork show. “It’s hard to believe, 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 medication was a “guaranteed” cure for covid, Staley stated sure however qualified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are no guarantees in life,” court information present.

Through the name, Staley also instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “acquired the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records 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 provided the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and five family members — for $4,000, in line with court paperwork.

A Florida man acquired millions in coronavirus help. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded responsible in July 2021. As a part of his plea settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one of his staff to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors mentioned. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal brokers through 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 Cost Suzanne Turner said in a news launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “At this time, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a rip-off to make a quick buck.”

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

In keeping with information from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been briefly suspended by a court docket order.