“sunny” balwani has been sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison for his role in the failed blood-testing start-up theranos. balwani was convicted of 12 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, while his business partner elizabeth holmes was sentenced to over 11 years in prison last month. the pair had been charged together, but their trials were separated after holmes accused balwani of emotional and physical abuse.
Events leading up to balwani’s sentencing began in 2003 when holmes dropped out of stanford university at age 19 to launch theranos. the company claimed it could diagnose illnesses with a few drops of blood from a finger prick using a device called the edison machine. this technology was falsely advertised and the company was able to raise millions of dollars from high-profile figures. in 2018, theranos fell apart after it became clear that the technology did not work.
Downfall of theranos was due to the fraudulent claims made by holmes and balwani. they deceived investors by falsely claiming their product could diagnose illnesses with a few drops of blood from a finger prick. balwani had direct oversight over the company’s labs and was found guilty of defrauding patients who used the blood tests. prosecutors had recommended that balwani pay $804m in restitution and serve a 15-year prison sentence. the blood-testing start-up’s downfall has been documented in several popular series and podcasts as well as a book by former wall street journal reporter john carreyrou.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-63895825?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
