San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and other people isolated of their properties, a physician in San Diego boasted that he had his arms on a “miracle remedy,” in keeping with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the medication becoming more and more scarce. However Staley had a means of getting it, he later advised an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese supplier, prosecutors said.

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

“At the height of the pandemic, before vaccines had been obtainable, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman said in a information release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of the whole medical occupation.”

Staley’s legal professional didn't 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 commonly prescribed to individuals 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 precipitated demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those that needed it for non-covid well being problems. Studies later found that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective treatment for covid and did not forestall folks from changing into sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal agents began wanting into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class magnificence improvements at reasonably priced prices,” court docket paperwork present, and offered companies together with Botox, fat switch, hair removing and tattoo removing.

The covid therapy package got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, entry to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra price), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, data present.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of many emails and inquired about the treatment equipment, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that may maintain someone immune from covid for no less than six weeks, in response to court docket data.

“It’s preventive and healing,” Staley stated to the spy, courtroom paperwork present. “It’s onerous to imagine, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it surely’s a remarkable clinical phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether or not the remedy was a “assured” cure for covid, Staley mentioned sure but certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there aren't any ensures in life,” court docket information present.

During the name, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “acquired the final tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” records 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 versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and five relations — for $4,000, according to courtroom paperwork.

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

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded guilty in July 2021. As a part of his plea agreement, Staley also admitted to posing as one among his staff 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 supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to folks gripped in fear during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a information release when Staley pleaded guilty. “As we speak, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a quick buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 tremendous and to provide back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s equipment. He also had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical medicine, a number of bags of empty tablet capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

Based on data from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been temporarily suspended by a court docket order.