The fate of Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani is now in the hands of a jury that will weigh charges he joined Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in an elaborate fraud that jarred Silicon Valley.
SAN JOSE -- The fate of hard-nosed technology executive Ramesh"Sunny" Balwani is now in the hands of a jury that will weigh criminal charges alleging he joined disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, his former partner, in an elaborate fraud that jarred Silicon Valley.
Balwani, 57, began dating Holmes, now 38, around the same time she dropped out of Stanford University in 2003 to found her startup. He helped Holmes behind the scenes until 2010 when he became Theranos' chief operating officer while he was living with Holmes. The couple broke up in 2016 as Theranos began to collapse amid revelations about serious problems with Theranos' technology that they had concealed from investors and patients.
But the blood tests never consistently worked as Holmes and Balwani had promised, even as prominent investors such as Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison and media mogul Rupert Murdoch poured nearly $1 billion into Theranos. Meanwhile, Theranos was running tests of its technology as part of a partnership with Walgreens that were delivering inaccurate results to patients that threatened to jeopardize their health.
Federal prosecutors provided evidence showing Balwani grossly exaggerated Theranos revenue projections that helped Holmes woo investors while also overseeing the company lab and covering up flawed tests of patients' blood. Balwani's lawyers countered by depicting him as a loyal soldier who not only pledged about $15 million of his own money to help prop up Theranos from 2009 to 2011, but also a tireless worker focused on doing everything to help Holmes achieve her goals. They also insisted Balwani fell under the same spell that Holmes cast while wooing investors and convincing powerful men such as former U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz and former U.S.
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