San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus spread and folks remoted of their homes, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle remedy,” in response 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 “remedy kits,” regardless of the medicine becoming more and more scarce. But Staley had a method of getting it, he later told an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

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

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

Staley’s lawyer didn't instantly reply to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to folks 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 “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement precipitated demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those that wanted it for non-covid health issues. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine just isn't an efficient remedy for covid and did not stop individuals from turning into sick.

In keeping with prosecutors, federal brokers started looking into Staley after involved customers alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class magnificence innovations at reasonably priced costs,” court docket documents show, and offered companies together with Botox, fat transfer, hair removing and tattoo removal.

The covid remedy kit came 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 drugs, data present.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the remedy package, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful remedy” that might hold somebody immune from covid for at the least six weeks, in response to court data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the spy, courtroom paperwork present. “It’s hard to imagine, it’s almost too good to be true. But it surely’s a outstanding medical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether the treatment was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley said yes but qualified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are no guarantees in life,” courtroom records present.

Through the call, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “acquired the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data 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 managed substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and five members of the family — for $4,000, based on court docket documents.

A Florida man obtained thousands and thousands in coronavirus assist. 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 also admitted to posing as one of his employees 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 offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in fear during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “Right this 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 wonderful and to provide again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s equipment. He additionally had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical medicine, multiple baggage of empty tablet capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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