San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and people isolated of their properties, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle remedy,” in accordance with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the treatment turning into increasingly scarce. But Staley had a approach 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 stated.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines had been accessible, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman stated in a information launch. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of your complete medical occupation.”

Staley’s attorney did not instantly reply to requests for remark late Monday.

How false hope unfold 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, beginning in the early days of the pandemic, as a “recreation changer.” Trump’s endorsement prompted demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and ultimately affecting those who needed it for non-covid health issues. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine isn't an efficient remedy for covid and didn't stop folks from turning into sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal brokers started looking into Staley after involved customers alerted the FBI to the advertising and marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty innovations at reasonably priced prices,” court docket paperwork present, and provided services together with Botox, fats switch, hair removing and tattoo removal.

The covid therapy package got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra fee), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, information present.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of many emails and inquired in regards to the treatment equipment, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “amazing remedy” that might hold someone immune from covid for at the least six weeks, based on court docket records.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the spy, court docket documents show. “It’s exhausting to imagine, it’s almost too good to be true. But it surely’s a exceptional clinical phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the medication was a “assured” treatment for covid, Staley mentioned sure however qualified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there aren't any ensures in life,” court information present.

Through the name, Staley additionally informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records present, 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 offered the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, based on court docket paperwork.

A Florida man obtained hundreds of thousands in coronavirus assist. He used it to buy 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 certainly 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 in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed remedy for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in worry during a world pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner said in a information launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “At present, 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 superb and to provide again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s equipment. He also had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical medicine, a number of luggage of empty capsule capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

Based on data from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been quickly suspended by a courtroom order.