San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the medicine turning into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a means of getting it, he later told an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors stated.

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

“On the top of the pandemic, before vaccines had been accessible, this physician sought to revenue from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman stated in a information release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of your complete medical career.”

Staley’s legal professional didn't instantly reply to requests for remark late Monday.

How false hope spread about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the consequences that followed

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to individuals 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 prompted demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and in the end affecting those that wanted it for non-covid health problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine is not an effective therapy for covid and didn't forestall folks from turning into sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal brokers began looking into Staley after involved customers alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class beauty improvements at inexpensive prices,” court paperwork show, and offered providers together with Botox, fats switch, hair removal and tattoo elimination.

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

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of the emails and inquired about the therapy kit, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb cure” that may maintain someone immune from covid for at least six weeks, in line with court docket records.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the spy, courtroom documents show. “It’s arduous to consider, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it surely’s a remarkable medical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether the remedy was a “assured” treatment for covid, Staley said sure but certified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” courtroom records present.

Throughout the call, Staley also informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “bought the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information present, 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 variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. 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 received hundreds of 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 a part of his plea settlement, Staley also admitted to posing as considered 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 agents during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in worry during a global pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “As we speak, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a fast 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 household’s package. He also had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical medicine, multiple baggage of empty capsule capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

In keeping with data from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been briefly suspended by a courtroom order.