Doctor sold COVID treatment kits as ‘miracle cure,’ feds say. Now he’s going to prison
A California doctor is accused of trying to smuggle hydroxychloroquine into the U.S. from China to sell in a “COVID-19 treatment kit” that he promised as a cure to the virus, federal officials said.
Jennings Ryan Staley was sentenced to 30 days in prison and one year of home confinement on May 27 for one count of importation contrary to law, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a news release.
An attorney for Staley did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
Staley owned Skinny Beach Med Spa in San Diego and sent advertisements to his customers that his COVID-19 treatment kits were “miracle cures” for the virus, according to the complaint.
These treatment kits included hydroxychloroquine — an FDA-approved medication used to prevent or fight malaria and other autoimmune diseases. But it’s not approved to treat COVID-19.
The U.S. government revoked its initial emergency use authorization of the drug on June 15, 2020. But even then, the drug was only allowed for “certain hospitalized patients when a clinical trial is unavailable or participation is not feasible.”
Staley began selling his kits in March and April 2020, the release states.
His “family resistance packs” cost $3,995, the complaint says. Each pack included intravenous drips, access to a medical hyperbaric oxygen chamber, COVID-19 updates, anti-anxiety treatments, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, and COVID-19 testing.
Twenty 200 mg tablets of hydroxychloroquine were provided in each kit, the complaint says.
Staley sold six treatment kits to an undercover agent for about $4,000, telling the agent that the drug was an “amazing cure,” prosecutors said in the complaint.
“You could be short of breath and coughing at noon today, and if I start your hydroxychloroquine loading dose, you’ll feel 99% better by noon tomorrow,” he told the agent.
Xanax and Viagra were also provided to the agent by Staley, prosecutors said. He told the agent the Xanax was for patients who have anxiety.
Staley told the undercover agent he was getting hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China by declaring the package as “sweet potato extract,” prosecutors said in the complaint.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed a package had been shipped from China to Skinny Beach in April 2020 that was described as “yam extract,” court documents show.
In addition to Staley’s sentencing, he was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, to forfeit the $4,000 the agent paid him and to give up 4,500 tablets of various pharmaceutical drugs.
“At the height of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in the release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of the entire medical profession.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 1:47 PM with the headline "Doctor sold COVID treatment kits as ‘miracle cure,’ feds say. Now he’s going to prison."
