San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” despite the remedy turning into increasingly scarce. However Staley had a approach of getting it, he later advised an undercover federal agent. He planned 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 12 months of home confinement for the scheme. He pleaded guilty final year.

“At the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines have been out there, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman said in a news launch. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of the whole medical career.”

Staley’s attorney didn't immediately respond to requests for remark late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to individuals 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 brought about demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and finally affecting those who needed it for non-covid health problems. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine just isn't an efficient therapy for covid and didn't prevent folks from becoming sick.

In keeping with prosecutors, federal agents started trying into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class beauty improvements at affordable costs,” court docket documents present, and provided providers together with Botox, fats transfer, hair removing and tattoo removal.

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

In late March 2020, an undercover agent responded to one of many emails and inquired in regards to the remedy kit, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone soon after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that might hold somebody immune from covid for at the least six weeks, based on courtroom records.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley mentioned to the spy, court docket documents show. “It’s arduous to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. Nevertheless it’s a exceptional scientific phenomenon.”

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

When requested by the agent whether the medicine was a “guaranteed” treatment for covid, Staley mentioned sure but qualified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there aren't any guarantees in life,” court docket information present.

Throughout the call, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “got 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 versions 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 five members of the family — for $4,000, in accordance with court 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 settlement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one among 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 throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed cure for COVID-19 to people gripped in fear during a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner said in a news launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “As we speak, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a fast buck.”

As a part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 nice 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 assorted pharmaceutical medicine, a number of luggage of empty tablet capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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