Former Theranos COO Gets 13 Years in Prison
A federal decide sentenced former Theranos Chief Working Officer Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani to 13 years in jail Wednesday for defrauding traders and sufferers of the blood testing startup, a extra extreme penalty than that given to former CEO Elizabeth Holmes.
Key Takeaways
- Former Theranos COO Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani has been sentenced to 13 years in jail.
- Balwani was convicted on 12 fraud and conspiracy counts for claiming Theranos had developed a sophisticated blood testing expertise.
- Balwani’s former boss and ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Holmes, obtained a sentence of greater than 11 years for her position within the case.
- Prosecutors confirmed Holmes and Balwani knew Theranos’ expertise did not work.
- Balwani and Holmes every sought to shift blame to the opposite throughout their separate trials.
Balwani was the longtime boyfriend of Theranos founder and Chief Government Officer Elizabeth Holmes, who was sentenced in the identical courthouse final month to greater than 11 years in jail on fraud expenses stemming from her false claims in regards to the firm.
Balwani was convicted on 12 fraud and conspiracy expenses associated to his work at Theranos. Prosecutors had sought a 15-year jail sentence, whereas Balwani’s attorneys requested probation. Balwani should report for his sentence on March 15. Holmes is to report for her sentence on April 27.
Holmes and Balwani had claimed that Theranos developed blood-testing gear able to utilizing blood drawn from a finger pinprick in a whole lot of lab analyses; the corporate had not, in reality, developed such gear. Theranos did entice important investments from billionaire enterprise tycoons Larry Ellison and Rupert Murdoch, and recruited the likes of former Secretary of State George Shultz for its board of administrators.
Balwani was 40 and Holmes 22 when she moved in with him in 2005, two years after founding Theranos. Holmes named Balwani the corporate’s chief working officer in 2009 after he loaned the corporate $13 million. She fired Balwani and ended their relationship in 2016, the yr after The Wall Road Journal reported the corporate was advertising a non-existent expertise.
Throughout Holmes’ trial on fraud expenses, her attorneys claimed Balwani abused Holmes bodily and psychologically whereas micromanaging her work as Theranos CEO. Balwani’s legal professionals have denied the abuse claims and sought to depict their consumer as an unwitting sufferer of a fraud Holmes perpetrated.
Balwani opted to not converse at his sentencing listening to. He has been a person of few phrases in different contexts as effectively, in response to the transcripts of texts between Balwani and Holmes introduced at Holmes’ trial. “You’re the breeze within the desert for me. My water. And ocean. Meant to be solely collectively tiger,” Holmes as soon as texted Balwani. “OK,” he replied.
