San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus unfold and people remoted in their properties, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his arms on a “miracle remedy,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the remedy turning into more and more scarce. However Staley had a approach 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 provider, prosecutors said.

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

“On the peak of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines have been available, this physician sought to revenue from patients’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman mentioned in a news release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of the whole medical career.”

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

How false hope unfold about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the consequences that adopted

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning in the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement prompted demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and in the end affecting those who needed it for non-covid well being issues. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine is just not an efficient remedy for covid and didn't prevent folks from turning into sick.

In accordance with prosecutors, federal brokers started wanting into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty innovations at affordable prices,” court docket paperwork show, and supplied providers together with Botox, fat transfer, hair removing and tattoo removal.

The covid treatment kit came with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra charge), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, records show.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired concerning the treatment kit, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb cure” that would preserve somebody immune from covid for at least six weeks, in keeping with court data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the secret agent, court docket paperwork present. “It’s arduous to imagine, it’s virtually too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a outstanding clinical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the medication was a “guaranteed” remedy for covid, Staley mentioned yes but certified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” court data present.

In the course of the call, Staley also advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “obtained the last 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 offered the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally controlled substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five relations — for $4,000, in keeping with court paperwork.

A Florida man acquired tens of millions in coronavirus help. 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 additionally admitted to posing as one in every of his workers 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 in the course of the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed remedy for COVID-19 to folks gripped in concern throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “Immediately, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as 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 high quality and to present back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s kit. He additionally needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical drugs, a number of baggage of empty capsule capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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