Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the previous enterprise companion of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, was sentenced to almost 13 years in federal jail and three years of probation Wednesday for his position within the disgraced blood-test firm’s years of fraud.
It is a longer sentence than what Holmes bought final month. Balwani was convicted in July on 12 counts of fraud — eight greater than Holmes was.
Balwani should give up by March 15, U.S. District Decide Edward Davila mentioned after he introduced the sentence in San Jose, California.
Theranos, which promised that its expertise might shortly check for quite a lot of well being circumstances with only a pinprick of blood, raised tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in funding and attracted high-profile board members earlier than it collapsed after a collection of investigative stories solid doubt on its viability.
As Theranos’ president and chief working officer, Balwani had direct oversight over the corporate’s labs, the place a number of the most egregious misconduct occurred, prosecutors mentioned. At his trial, prosecutors known as witnesses who mentioned Theranos’ inaccurate blood checks prompted real-world hurt.
“Mr. Balwani knew that Theranos was not producing, and wouldn’t generate, any significant income by being sincere with individuals,” U.S. Lawyer Jeff Schenk mentioned. “So he selected a unique path.”
Textual content messages launched through the trial confirmed Balwani’s outsize position.
“I’m chargeable for every thing at Theranos,” Balwani wrote in a 2015 textual content message to Holmes. “All have been my selections too.”
Balwani’s protection group mentioned he had acted in good religion.
“He believed, and had each cause to imagine, within the world-class scientific group at Theranos and the expertise they developed,” lawyer Jeffrey Coopersmith mentioned.
Holmes and Balwani have been additionally romantic companions for a lot of the corporate’s historical past, which the pair tried to maintain secret from staff. As she mounted her protection, Holmes tried to painting herself as a sufferer of Balwani’s abuse. Balwani has denied the claims.
