San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the remedy changing into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a method 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 supplier, prosecutors stated.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines had been available, this doctor sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman mentioned in a information launch. “He abused his place of trust and undermined the integrity of your complete medical occupation.”

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

How false hope spread about hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 — and the results that followed

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to folks 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 “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement caused demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and ultimately affecting those that needed it for non-covid well being issues. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine is not an efficient treatment for covid and didn't forestall individuals from changing into sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal brokers started trying into Staley after involved customers alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class beauty innovations at affordable costs,” court paperwork present, and offered providers including Botox, fat switch, hair removing and tattoo removing.

The covid treatment kit got here with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, records show.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the treatment equipment, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that might hold someone immune from covid for at least six weeks, in line with courtroom data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley mentioned to the spy, courtroom paperwork present. “It’s hard to imagine, it’s almost too good to be true. However it’s a remarkable medical phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the remedy was a “assured” remedy for covid, Staley said sure however certified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there are not any ensures in life,” courtroom data present.

Through the name, Staley additionally informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “acquired the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records present, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “sweet 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 managed substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, based on courtroom documents.

A Florida man acquired hundreds of thousands in coronavirus help. He used it to purchase 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 certainly one of his employees 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 guaranteed cure for COVID-19 to people gripped in fear throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a information release when Staley pleaded responsible. “At this time, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 wonderful and to provide 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 medication, multiple luggage of empty tablet capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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