San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus spread and folks isolated of their homes, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his hands on a “miracle cure,” based on prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “therapy kits,” despite the medicine turning into increasingly 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 help of a Chinese language supplier, prosecutors mentioned.

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

“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 position of belief and undermined the integrity of your complete medical career.”

Staley’s lawyer didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to individuals with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, beginning in the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement triggered demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and in the end affecting those who wanted it for non-covid health problems. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective remedy for covid and didn't forestall individuals from changing into sick.

In accordance with prosecutors, federal agents started wanting into Staley after involved customers alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class magnificence improvements at reasonably priced prices,” courtroom documents show, and offered providers together with Botox, fats transfer, hair removing and tattoo removing.

The covid therapy package came with a 30-day “concierge medical expertise,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, data show.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of many emails and inquired in regards to the therapy package, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful treatment” that might hold someone immune from covid for no less than six weeks, in accordance with court docket records.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley mentioned to the secret agent, court docket paperwork present. “It’s onerous to believe, it’s nearly too good to be true. However it’s a remarkable medical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the medicine was a “guaranteed” cure for covid, Staley mentioned sure however certified that “there’s all the time exceptions” and “there aren't any guarantees in life,” courtroom data present.

Throughout the name, Staley also informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He said that he “acquired the final 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 provided the agent prescriptions for generic versions of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — sufficient for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, based on courtroom paperwork.

A Florida man acquired thousands and thousands in coronavirus assist. He used it to purchase a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

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

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured cure for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in concern during a global pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news release when Staley pleaded guilty. “Right now, 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 wonderful and to give again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s equipment. He also needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, multiple baggage of empty tablet capsules, and a manual capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors mentioned.

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