San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, as the coronavirus spread and people remoted in their houses, a health care provider 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 Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “remedy kits,” regardless of the medicine becoming more and more scarce. However Staley had a method 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 prison and a yr of residence confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible final 12 months.

“At the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines have been accessible, this doctor sought to revenue from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman mentioned in a news release. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the whole medical profession.”

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

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

Hydroxychloroquine is commonly prescribed to people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to treat malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement induced demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those who needed it for non-covid well being problems. Studies later discovered that hydroxychloroquine just isn't an efficient remedy for covid and did not stop people from turning into sick.

According to prosecutors, federal brokers began trying into Staley after involved customers alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Beach Med Spa. The enterprise marketed “world-class beauty innovations at inexpensive costs,” courtroom paperwork show, and provided services including Botox, fats switch, hair removal 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 payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medications, records present.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of many emails and inquired about the remedy package, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone quickly after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb remedy” that will maintain someone immune from covid for at least six weeks, in line with court docket data.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley mentioned to the spy, court docket documents present. “It’s exhausting to imagine, it’s nearly too good to be true. However it’s a remarkable scientific phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether or not the remedy was a “assured” remedy for covid, Staley mentioned yes but certified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there aren't any ensures in life,” courtroom records present.

During the call, Staley additionally informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “bought 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 sufficient to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later supplied the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors said. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 relations — for $4,000, according to court paperwork.

A Florida man acquired 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 also admitted to posing as one in all his workers to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors stated. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal agents during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured remedy for COVID-19 to people gripped in worry throughout a global pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner said in a news launch when Staley pleaded responsible. “Right this moment, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a rip-off to make a fast buck.”

As 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 family’s kit. He additionally needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of varied pharmaceutical medicine, a number of bags of empty capsule capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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