Doctor Charged With Coronavirus Cure Fraud

A doctor in California hyped a cure for covid-19 based on claims made by Trump.

Image from Skinny Beach Med Spa

There’s a race to find a vaccine for covid-19 in the medical community. Many physicians are also trying to find a medicine regiment that will help cure the novel virus. The work being done by the frontline workers is rightfully being praised by the media and most members of society as a whole.

While most doctors are doing the right thing, some are trying to take advantage of the situation. There are some doing this by spreading fear. Others are touting a miracle drug regime that will keep patients from being infected with the coronavirus.

A southern California doctor is accused of the latter. And while he doesn’t deny the practice, he has an unusual defense for that he did: Donald J. Trump.

Doctor Fraud

Doctor Jennings Ryan Staley is a licensed physician and owner of Skinny Beach Med Spa. When California was put under a statewide stay at home order, Staley needed to find a way to keep his business afloat. He decided to create a package of treatments for the coronavirus.

The packs included hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. Staley was charging clients $3,995 and said the medication was enough for a family of four. In an interview with an undercover FBI agent, he swore that it would keep people who used the package from getting the virus for at least six weeks. He also claimed that a patient who had the virus would be cured by taking the medicines in the packages.

“It’s preventative and curative, It’s hard to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. But it’s a remarkable clinical phenomenon.” Dr. Staley told the FBI agent according to prosecutors. The physician told the agent that if he ran out of hydroxychloroquine, there was another anti-malarial drug he would send.

Later Staley would begin walking back his initial claims. He changed his statements to the agent, “There are no guarantees in life. There are no guarantees of anything.” When he was asked during an interview with the FBI later, he said “it would be foolish” for patients to be told there was a 100% chance to have the coronavirus to be cured.

March Madness

Skinny Beach Med Spa began promoting the coronavirus cure packages in late March. Right around the time when Governor Gavin Newsom issued the stay at home order for the state. The packages replaced their usual services like botox, hair removal, and fat transfer.

The FBI was given a tip by an anonymous person. They started their investigation by having the undercover agent reach out to Dr. Staley. The case progressed quickly and it was turned over to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California.

They quickly charged Dr. Staley with mail fraud. Robert S. Brewer JR., the prosecutor in charge of the case said: “We will not tolerate Covid-19 fraudsters who try to profit and take advantage of the pandemic fear to cheat, steal and harm others.” It is expected there will be more cases like Staley’s.

But will they use the same defense he is using?

The Trump Defense

Through his attorney, Dr. Staley has said he took his lead from the White House. Trump had promoted hydroxychloroquine during his daily press conferences. At one point the former reality star said about the drug, “what have you got to lose?”

Staley took that as a cue to put together his medical packages. His lawyer, Patrick Griffin says that this prosecution is unfair since the Trump administration started touting the medicine as a cure first. Griffin continued:

“The same executive branch that has been touting these two medications for weeks has now turned around and criminally charged an Iraq veteran, Dr. Staley, no criminal record, for doing exactly the same thing that the administration’s been doing this whole time.”

While some studies from France and China did suggest the combination of drugs could help patients, the studies failed to have the proper control groups. It was also widely reported that Brazil halted a study of the drug and the coronavirus over the risks of a fatal heart attack.

Griffin was quick to point out that Staley gave the undercover agent two “free samples” as evidence that this was not a scam. The lawyer also argued that this should not be a federal felony, rather a state regulatory issue. Prosecutors disagree, they say the case is about the curative claims Staley made.

If convicted, Staley faced up to 20 years in prison.