Former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison in the US on Wednesday after a July conviction for fraud and conspiracy.
His former partner, chief executive and founder of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, received more than 11 years in prison for her role in cheating investors out of millions through peddling the company’s bogus blood-testing technology.
Their convictions and sentencing stem from years of false claims by the company that it had developed a device that could scan for hundreds of diseases and other problems with a few drops of blood.
The case cast a light on Silicon Valley’s dark side, exposing how its culture of hype and boundless ambition could veer into lies.
Holmes could have received up to 20 years in prison — a penalty that US District Judge Edward Davila could also have imposed on Balwani, who spent six years as Theranos’s chief operating officer while romantically involved with Holmes until a bitter split in 2016.
While on the witness box in her trial, also in San Jose, California, Holmes accused Balwani, 57, of manipulating her through years of emotional and sexual abuse. Balwani’s lawyer has denied the allegations.
The two trials had somewhat different outcomes.
Unlike Balwani, Holmes was acquitted on several charges of defrauding and conspiring against people who paid for Theranos blood tests that produced misleading results and could have directed patients to the wrong treatment.
The jury in Holmes’s trial was also deadlocked on three charges.
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes found guilty in fraud trial — video
Balwani was convicted on all 12 felony counts and his lawyers contend he deserves a far more lenient sentence of four to 10 months in prison, preferably in home confinement.
Prosecutors for the Justice Department were seeking 15 years.
Federal prosecutors also want the judge to order Balwani to pay $804 million in restitution to defrauded investors — the same amount sought from Holmes.
The judge deferred a decision on restitution during Holmes’s November 18 sentencing until an unspecified future date.
In court documents, Balwani’s lawyers portrayed him as a hardworking immigrant who moved from India to the US in the 1980s to become the first member of his family to attend college.
Later, in Silicon Valley, he first worked as a computer programmer for Microsoft before founding an online start-up that he sold for millions of dollars during the dot-com boom.
Balwani and Holmes met about the same time as she dropped out of Stanford University in 2003 to start Theranos.
Lawyers for Balwani said he eventually invested about $5 million in the start-up that eventually became worth about $500 million on paper — a fraction of Holmes’s one-time fortune of $4.5 billion.
That wealth evaporated after Theranos began to unravel in 2015 amid revelations that its blood-testing technology never worked as Holmes had boasted in glowing magazine articles that likened her to Silicon Valley visionaries such as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Before Theranos’s downfall, Holmes teamed up with Balwani to raise nearly $1 billion from investors that included software mogul Larry Ellison and media magnate Rupert Murdoch.
Echoing similar claims made by Holmes’s lawyers before her sentencing, Balwani’s lawyers said he has been adequately punished by the intense media coverage of Theranos, which has been the subject of a book, documentary and award-winning TV series.
Balwani “has lost his career, his reputation and his ability to meaningfully work again”, his lawyers wrote.
AP contributed to this report
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
MATCH INFO
Europa League final
Who: Marseille v Atletico Madrid
Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
When: Wednesday, 10.45pm kick off (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
