San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus unfold and people remoted in their properties, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle treatment,” according to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” despite the remedy becoming increasingly scarce. However Staley had a way of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese provider, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“On the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines have been out there, this doctor sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman said in a news release. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of the complete medical profession.”

Staley’s legal professional didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly 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 within the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement brought about demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those who wanted it for non-covid health problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine isn't an efficient remedy for covid and didn't forestall folks from turning into sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal agents started looking into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class beauty innovations at reasonably priced prices,” court docket documents show, and offered companies together with Botox, fats switch, hair elimination and tattoo elimination.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the treatment equipment, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful treatment” that might preserve someone immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, based on court information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the undercover agent, courtroom paperwork show. “It’s onerous to imagine, it’s nearly too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a remarkable clinical 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 treatment was a “assured” remedy for covid, Staley said sure but qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there aren't any guarantees in life,” court docket data present.

Throughout the call, Staley additionally advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data 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 supplied the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five relations — for $4,000, based on court documents.

A Florida man received millions 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 a part of his plea agreement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one of 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 supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in worry throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “Right this moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 superb and to offer 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 various pharmaceutical medication, multiple bags of empty pill capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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