San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and folks remoted in their homes, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle cure,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy kits,” despite the medicine changing into more and more scarce. But 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 help of a Chinese language provider, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“At the height of the pandemic, before vaccines had been obtainable, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman mentioned in a news release. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of your entire medical occupation.”

Staley’s lawyer did not instantly respond to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting within the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement precipitated demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and in the end affecting those that needed it for non-covid health problems. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an efficient remedy for covid and did not forestall folks from changing into sick.

In line with prosecutors, federal brokers started wanting into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class beauty improvements at affordable prices,” court documents present, and provided providers including Botox, fats transfer, hair removal and tattoo removing.

The covid therapy equipment got here with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra fee), 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 said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful remedy” that may preserve somebody immune from covid for a minimum of six weeks, based on courtroom records.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the undercover agent, courtroom documents present. “It’s exhausting to consider, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it surely’s a outstanding medical phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the remedy was a “guaranteed” cure for covid, Staley stated sure but qualified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there aren't any ensures in life,” courtroom records present.

During the name, Staley additionally told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “received the final 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 provided 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 mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, in line with courtroom documents.

A Florida man received thousands and thousands in coronavirus help. He used it to purchase a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded guilty in July 2021. As part of his plea settlement, Staley also admitted to posing as one among 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 through the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed cure for COVID-19 to people gripped in fear throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “At present, 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 wonderful and to offer back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s kit. He also needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medicine, multiple baggage of empty capsule capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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