San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and people isolated in their homes, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his arms on a “miracle cure,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” despite the medication changing into more and more scarce. However Staley had a manner of getting it, he later told an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors said.

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

“On the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines were accessible, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman mentioned in a information release. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of your entire medical career.”

Staley’s legal professional did not instantly 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 folks with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning in the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement induced demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those that needed it for non-covid health issues. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine isn't an efficient therapy for covid and didn't forestall individuals from becoming sick.

In keeping with prosecutors, federal brokers started wanting into Staley after involved clients alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class magnificence innovations at affordable prices,” court docket documents show, and provided services together with Botox, fat switch, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the remedy kit, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful cure” that will hold someone immune from covid for no less than six weeks, in response to courtroom data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the undercover agent, courtroom documents show. “It’s arduous to imagine, it’s almost too good to be true. However it’s a exceptional scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the remedy was a “guaranteed” treatment for covid, Staley stated yes but qualified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are not any ensures in life,” court data present.

In the course of the call, Staley additionally informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “bought 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 sufficient 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, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, in keeping with court documents.

A Florida man obtained millions in coronavirus help. 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 also admitted to posing as one among his workers 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 offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured remedy for COVID-19 to folks gripped in fear during a world pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner stated in a news launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “At the moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 tremendous and to offer again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s package. He also had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medicine, multiple luggage of empty pill capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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