San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus unfold and people remoted of their properties, a doctor in San Diego boasted that he had his palms on a “miracle treatment,” in accordance with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his business, Skinny Seaside Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley stated the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the medicine changing into increasingly scarce. But 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 assistance of a Chinese provider, prosecutors stated.

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

“On the height of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, this physician sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Legal professional Randy Grossman stated in a information release. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of your complete medical occupation.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement induced demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and ultimately affecting those who wanted it for non-covid well being issues. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine just isn't an efficient therapy for covid and did not forestall folks from turning into sick.

In keeping with prosecutors, federal agents started looking into Staley after concerned clients alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seaside Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class magnificence improvements at reasonably priced prices,” court paperwork present, and supplied providers including Botox, fat transfer, 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 drugs, records present.

In late March 2020, an secret agent responded to one of the emails and inquired in regards to the treatment kit, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the telephone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb treatment” that may preserve someone immune from covid for at the very least six weeks, in accordance with courtroom information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the undercover agent, courtroom paperwork show. “It’s laborious to imagine, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it surely’s a exceptional medical 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 “assured” treatment for covid, Staley said sure but certified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there are not any ensures in life,” court docket records show.

During the name, Staley also told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He stated that he “received 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 offered 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 family members — for $4,000, based on courtroom documents.

A Florida man obtained millions in coronavirus support. He used it to purchase 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 considered 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 agents during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed remedy for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in fear throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner mentioned in a news launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “At the moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as a part of a scam to make a quick buck.”

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

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