San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and people isolated of their houses, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle treatment,” in accordance with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seashore Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” regardless of the medicine turning into more and more scarce. However Staley had a method of getting it, he later advised an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the assistance of a Chinese provider, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines had been obtainable, this doctor sought to revenue from patients’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman said in a information launch. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the complete medical profession.”

Staley’s lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

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

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, starting within the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement induced demand for the drug to spike, leading to shortages and in the end affecting those that wanted it for non-covid health problems. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine will not be an efficient therapy for covid and did not prevent individuals from changing into sick.

Based on prosecutors, federal agents started trying into Staley after concerned customers alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class magnificence innovations at inexpensive costs,” court documents show, and offered services including Botox, fat transfer, hair elimination and tattoo removing.

The covid therapy kit got here with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an additional 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 about the treatment package, investigators stated. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful cure” that will hold someone immune from covid for no less than six weeks, according to court docket information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley said to the undercover agent, courtroom documents show. “It’s laborious to imagine, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it surely’s a exceptional clinical phenomenon.”

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

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

Through the call, Staley also advised the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” information present, 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 provided the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, despite never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, in response to courtroom documents.

A Florida man received millions in coronavirus support. He used it to purchase a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded responsible in July 2021. As a part of his plea agreement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as one in all 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 through the investigation.

“Dr. Staley provided a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to folks gripped in fear throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner stated in a news release 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 high quality and to present again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s kit. He additionally had to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, multiple luggage of empty tablet capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

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