San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus spread and folks isolated of their houses, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle treatment,” in response to prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the treatment becoming increasingly scarce. However Staley had a manner of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese language provider, prosecutors said.

Staley was sentenced final week to 30 days in prison and a year of dwelling confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty final yr.

“At the height of the pandemic, before vaccines have been out there, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a news release. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of the entire medical career.”

Staley’s legal professional did not immediately reply to requests for remark late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to folks with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat 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 caused demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and ultimately affecting those who wanted it for non-covid health problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective remedy for covid and didn't prevent people from turning into sick.

In line with prosecutors, federal brokers started wanting into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class beauty innovations at inexpensive prices,” court docket paperwork show, and supplied companies including Botox, fats transfer, hair removal and tattoo removal.

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

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of many emails and inquired in regards to the therapy kit, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that might maintain somebody immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, based on court information.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the undercover agent, courtroom documents show. “It’s laborious to consider, it’s nearly too good to be true. But it’s a remarkable scientific phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the treatment was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley stated yes but qualified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there aren't any guarantees in life,” courtroom records present.

In the course of the name, Staley additionally instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “acquired the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information show, 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 provided the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. 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 millions in coronavirus aid. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded responsible in July 2021. As part of his plea agreement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one in every of his staff 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 in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in worry during a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “Immediately, 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 advantageous and to present again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his family’s equipment. He additionally had to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical drugs, a number of luggage of empty pill capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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