San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus spread and other people remoted in their houses, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle cure,” in keeping with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the medication turning into more and more scarce. However Staley had a approach of getting it, he later told 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 prison and a year of house confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty last year.

“At the height of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman mentioned in a information launch. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of the complete medical profession.”

Staley’s lawyer didn't immediately respond to requests for remark late Monday.

How false hope unfold 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 deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning in the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement triggered demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those that needed it for non-covid health issues. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective therapy for covid and didn't stop people from changing into sick.

According to prosecutors, federal agents started wanting into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class magnificence improvements at inexpensive costs,” court docket documents present, and supplied companies together with Botox, fat switch, hair elimination and tattoo removal.

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

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of many emails and inquired about the treatment kit, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful remedy” that will maintain somebody immune from covid for no less than six weeks, according to court data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley mentioned to the spy, courtroom paperwork show. “It’s onerous to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a outstanding medical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the medicine was a “guaranteed” remedy for covid, Staley mentioned sure however qualified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are not any ensures in life,” court data show.

During the name, Staley also informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “received the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data 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 supplied the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, despite by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, according to courtroom paperwork.

A Florida man obtained hundreds of thousands in coronavirus aid. 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 agreement, Staley also admitted to posing as one in all 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 agents through the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to people gripped in fear during a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news release when Staley pleaded responsible. “Today, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a rip-off to make a fast buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 high quality and to offer back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s kit. He additionally had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical medicine, multiple bags of empty pill capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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