San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and people remoted in their houses, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle treatment,” 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 “therapy kits,” regardless of the medicine becoming more and more scarce. But Staley had a means of getting it, he later informed an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese language provider, prosecutors said.

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

“On the top of the pandemic, before vaccines were obtainable, this physician sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a news launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of your entire medical career.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting within the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement caused demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those that needed it for non-covid health problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine will not be an efficient therapy for covid and did not forestall folks from changing into sick.

In response to prosecutors, federal brokers began trying into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business advertised “world-class magnificence innovations at reasonably priced costs,” court docket documents show, and provided providers including Botox, fat switch, hair elimination and tattoo removal.

The covid remedy kit got here 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, data show.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the remedy kit, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that may maintain somebody immune from covid for no less than six weeks, in line with court docket data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the spy, court paperwork show. “It’s hard to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. But it surely’s a outstanding scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the medicine was a “guaranteed” remedy for covid, Staley stated yes but qualified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are no ensures in life,” court docket information present.

Through the call, Staley additionally instructed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “bought 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 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 never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, in line with court docket paperwork.

A Florida man acquired hundreds of thousands in coronavirus assist. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded guilty in July 2021. As part of his plea agreement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one among his employees to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors stated. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal brokers during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to folks gripped in concern during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a news launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “As we speak, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and to present back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, multiple luggage of empty capsule capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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