Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, the former COO of failed blood testing startup Theranos and ex-boyfriend of founder Elizabeth Holmes, was found guilty of defrauding investors and patients.
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Updated 5:33 PM EDT, Thu July 7, 2022
CNN Business —
Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the former COO of failed blood testing startup Theranos and ex-boyfriend of founder Elizabeth Holmes, was found guilty of defrauding investors and patients.
Jury deliberations stretched for four full days following a lengthy trial that got underway in March with opening statements.
A jury of five men and seven women determined that Balwani had defrauded both patients and investors, finding him guilty on all 12 charges he faced, which included ten counts of federal wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
During Holmes’ trial, a separate jury acquitted her on charges pertaining to defrauding patients, and were not able to reach a unanimous verdict on three of the charges concerning defrauding investors. She was found guilty on four charges relating to investors.
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Balwani showed little emotion as his fate was read aloud. Afterward, he briefly huddled with a small support system present in the courtroom. The verdict comes roughly six months after Holmes’ trial concluded.
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In a written statement to CNN Business, Balwani defense attorney Jeffrey Coopersmith of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe said: “We are obviously disappointed with the verdicts. We plan to study and consider all of Mr. Balwani’s options including an appeal.”
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Balwani’s verdict marks an end to a rare criminal fraud case against two Silicon Valley startup executives and the final chapter of a company, and a founder, once viewed as a posterchild for the entrepreneurial dream of building a disruptive product with the potential to change the world.
“Balwani is a reminder that she, like everyone, didn’t do it by herself,” Margaret O’Mara, a historian of the tech industry and professor at the University of Washington told CNN Business. “He still had a significant role running the company.”
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While Holmes’ stunning rise and fall is likely what most will remember about the story of Theranos in years to come, O’Mara said Balwani is actually “more representative of the Valley in terms of his career.”
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Originally from South Asia, Balwani moved to the United States on a student visa in 1986 to attend college in Texas. After graduating, he came to Silicon Valley and worked for tech companies such as Lotus and Microsoft. He went on to start an e-commerce company, which he eventually sold. By 2002, he was back in school to get his MBA.
As Holmes testified in her own defense in her trial, the two forged a friendship. They kept in touch and their relationship ultimately turned romantic. By 2005, the year after Holmes dropped out of Stanford to work full-time on Theranos, the pair were living together.
Balwani took a formal role at Theranos in 2009, shortly after guaranteeing a $10 million loan to the company. At the recommendation of Theranos’ board, according to Balwani’s defense, he would eventually take on the role of COO and president. Their romantic relationship, however, was largely kept private from investors, employees and business partners.
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In 2018, following nearly two years of turmoil,
Holmes and Theranos settled “massive fraud” charges with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, but did not admit to or deny any of the allegations as part of the deal.
Balwani, on the other hand, is fighting the charges. Coopersmith, the attorney also representing him in his criminal trial, said in a statement at the time that he “accurately represented Theranos to investors to the best of his ability.”
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Mark MacDougall, a white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said both the prosecution and the defense likely benefited by being able to see how evidence and witness testimony fared with jurors in Holmes’ trial. “Each side in Sunny’s trial would have made adjustments based on the outcome of the Holmes case, which could account for a different verdict,” he said.