A US judge on Wednesday sentenced former Theranos President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to 12 years and 11 months in prison on charges of defrauding investors and patients of the blood testing startup led by Elizabeth Holmes, a spokesperson for the US attorney’s office confirmed.
US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, imposed the sentence on Balwani, who was convicted by a jury on two counts of conspiracy and 10 counts of fraud in July.
Prosecutors said Balwani, 57, conspired with Holmes, 38, to deceive Silicon Valley investors into believing the corporate had achieved miniaturized machines that might accurately run a broad array of medical diagnostic tests from a small amount of blood.
Meanwhile, the corporate secretly relied on traditional methods to run tests and provided patients with inaccurate results, prosecutors said.
Holmes, who began the corporate as a school student and have become its public face, was indicted alongside Balwani, her former romantic partner, in 2018.
Holmes arrives at her sentencing on Nov. 18, 2022.REUTERS
Davila later granted each a separate trial after Holmes said she would take the stand and testify that Balwani was abusive of their relationship. He has denied the allegations.
Holmes was convicted in January on 4 counts of fraud and conspiracy but acquitted of defrauding patients.
Davila sentenced Holmes to 11-1/4 years in prison at a hearing last month, calling Theranos a enterprise “dashed by untruths, misrepresentations, plain hubris and lies.”
Prosecutors subsequently argued Balwani should receive 15 years in prison, saying he knew Theranos’ tests were inaccurate from overseeing the corporate’s laboratory operations, and decided to “prioritize Theranos’ financial health over patients’ real health.”
The probation office had beneficial a nine-year sentence.
A court sketch depicts Ramesh Balwani seated next to attorney Jeff Coopersmith, before U.S. District Judge Edward. Davila.REUTERS
Balwani arrives for sentencing.JOHN G MABANGLO/EPA-EFE/Shutters
Balwani’s attorneys asked for a sentence of probation, arguing that he sought to make the world a greater place through Theranos and was not motivated by fame or greed.
Once valued at $9 billion, Theranos promised to revolutionize how patients receive diagnoses by replacing traditional labs with small machines envisioned to be used in homes, drugstores and even on the battlefield.
The corporate collapsed after a series of Wall Street Journal articles in 2015 questioned its technology.
