San Diego physician Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

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

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley said the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” despite the medication becoming increasingly scarce. However Staley had a means of getting it, he later instructed an undercover federal agent. He planned to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese supplier, prosecutors stated.

Staley was sentenced last week to 30 days in prison and a year of residence confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible last year.

“On the peak of the pandemic, before vaccines had been available, this doctor sought to revenue from patients’ fears,” U.S. Lawyer Randy Grossman mentioned in a information release. “He abused his position of belief and undermined the integrity of your complete medical occupation.”

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 usually prescribed to people 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 “game changer.” Trump’s endorsement precipitated demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and ultimately affecting those that wanted it for non-covid well being problems. Research later discovered that hydroxychloroquine is not an effective treatment for covid and did not stop people from becoming sick.

According to prosecutors, federal brokers started wanting into Staley after concerned prospects alerted the FBI to the advertising emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The enterprise advertised “world-class beauty innovations at reasonably priced prices,” courtroom paperwork show, and provided providers together with Botox, fat switch, hair removal and tattoo removing.

The covid therapy kit came 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 medications, data present.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of many emails and inquired concerning the treatment kit, investigators said. When Staley and the agent spoke on the cellphone quickly after, the physician falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “wonderful remedy” that may hold someone immune from covid for at the least six weeks, in response to court docket information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley stated to the undercover agent, court docket documents show. “It’s hard to imagine, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it’s a exceptional medical phenomenon.”

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

When asked by the agent whether the treatment was a “assured” remedy for covid, Staley mentioned sure however qualified that “there’s at all times exceptions” and “there aren't any ensures in life,” courtroom information show.

During the call, Staley also informed the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “bought the last 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 supplied the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, regardless of never asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors stated. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, in keeping with court paperwork.

A Florida man acquired tens of millions in coronavirus aid. 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 of his staff 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 during the investigation.

“Dr. Staley supplied a ‘magic bullet’ — a guaranteed cure for COVID-19 to people gripped in worry throughout a worldwide pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner said in a news release when Staley pleaded responsible. “At this time, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a fast buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 superb and to offer back the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He also needed to hand over “more than 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical medication, multiple bags of empty capsule capsules, and a guide capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors stated.

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