San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and folks remoted in their houses, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle treatment,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy kits,” despite the remedy becoming increasingly scarce. However Staley had a method of getting it, he later advised 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 last week to 30 days in jail and a yr of house confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible last year.

“On the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines were out there, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman said in a news launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the whole medical profession.”

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 implications that followed

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting within 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 wanted it for non-covid health problems. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine isn't an effective remedy for covid and didn't stop people from changing into sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal agents started wanting into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty improvements at reasonably priced costs,” court docket paperwork show, and offered services together with Botox, fats transfer, hair removing and tattoo removal.

The covid therapy equipment got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional price), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety drugs, information present.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of the emails and inquired about the therapy kit, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful cure” that may maintain someone immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, in response to court data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the secret agent, court docket documents present. “It’s exhausting to imagine, it’s almost too good to be true. But it surely’s a remarkable scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the medication was a “assured” remedy for covid, Staley mentioned yes but qualified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” court docket information present.

In the course of the call, Staley additionally instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “obtained 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 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, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and five relations — for $4,000, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.

A Florida man received thousands and thousands 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 in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in fear during a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner said in a news launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “Right this moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 effective and to present back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s equipment. He additionally had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, multiple bags of empty tablet capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

In response to records from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been temporarily suspended by a courtroom order.