Sunny Balwani, Former Theranos President, Convicted of Fraud
variety.comWilson Chapman editorRamesh “Sunny” Balwani, the former president and chief operating officer of healthcare startup Theranos, was found guilty on Thursday of defrauding former investors and patients of the company.As reported by AP News, Balwani was convicted by a San Jose, Calif.
jury on all 12 charges brought against him. The verdict follows the Jan. 3 conviction of Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos CEO and founder and Balwani’s former romantic partner, on four accounts of investor fraud and conspiracy during their time at Theranos.During Holmes’ trial, she accused Balwani of sexual abuse throughout their relationship, which Balwani has repeatedly denied since his trial began in March.Founded by Holmes in 2003 when she was 19-years-old, Theranos was a healthcare startup focused on creating blood tests that could be performed rapidly with extremely small amounts of blood.
The company grew to a $10 billion valuation at its peak, developed a lucrative partnership with Walgreens and received the backing of notable figures such as George Schultz and Henry Kissinger.
However, a series of investigations in 2015, primarily by John Carreyrou of The Wall Street Journal, revealed that the company’s technology was ineffective and many tests were falsified.
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