[ad_1]
The ex-partner of disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has joined his accomplice in being sentenced to more than a decade in prison.
Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani was jailed for almost 13 years for his role in the company’s blood-testing hoax, which saw investors conned and patients put at risk as the pair enjoyed a life of fame and fortune.
It comes just weeks after Holmes, once described by Forbes as America’s youngest female self-made billionaire, was told she would spend more than 11 years behind bars for her role in a case that gripped the world.
Balwani, 57, was convicted in July of fraud and conspiracy connected to the Silicon Valley firm’s bogus medical technology that was sold as being able to test for dozens of diseases with a drop of blood.
He was chief operating officer at Theranos and was romantically involved with Holmes, the chief executive, until their bitter split in 2016 after revelations about the company first emerged in The Wall Street Journal.
During her trial, Holmes, now 38, accused Balwani of manipulating her through years of emotional and sexual abuse, allegations his lawyer has denied.
In court documents, his legal team painted him as a hard-working immigrant who moved from India in the 1980s – but prosecutors said he “presented a fake story” about Theranos’s technology after “making the calculated decision that honesty would destroy” the company.
Read more:
The incredible rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes
Theranos founder ‘has ambition to rise again’ despite case
Who is ‘Sunny’ Balwani?
Balwani graduated from the University of Texas in 1990 with a degree in information systems.
He later moved to Silicon Valley, where he first worked as a computer programmer for Microsoft before founding an online startup that he sold for millions of dollars during the dot-com boom of the 1990s.
Upon meeting Holmes, who had dropped out…
[ad_2]
