Elizabeth Holmes’ ex-boyfriend Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani assisted her in founding the famed health tech company Theranos, and now he is being held accountable for his role in the fraud.
In November 2022, Elizabeth received a sentence of 11 years and 3 months.
Sunny was found guilty of 12 crimes relating to fraud on December 7 and given a sentence of over 13 years in jail.
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’s wild and convoluted journey to build a firm that would be able to diagnose a variety of critical medical diseases with a single drop of blood is finally coming to an end.
As you presumably already know, Elizabeth’s firm and the situation as a whole went down in flames.
Elizabeth left Stanford University to start her new business, becoming well-known before it all came crumbling down when the blood testing equipment she invented failed to perform as she had assured investors they would.
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The most of the time, Elizabeth’s lover Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who also functioned as the president and chief operating officer of Theranos, was at her side. He also had a significant impact on the legal problems that developed.
According to The Washing ton Post, Federal District Judge Edward J. Davila sentenced Sunny to over 13 years in prison on December 7. In July, he was found guilty of 12 offences relating to fraud.
But who is Sunny Balwani exactly, and where is he right now? Here is all the information you require.
Sunny invested in Theranos and helped Elizabeth run the company.
In 2002, Sunny and Elizabeth connected in Beijing, China. They were both students; according to Refinery29, Sunny, 37, was pursuing his MBA at the University of California, Berkeley, while Elizabeth, 18, was on a language immersion trip with Stanford University.
Holmes left college at the age of 19 to found Theranos. Sunny gave her enough money to keep operating when she sought additional investors to aid in the company’s expansion.
Sunny stated in court testimony recorded by The Dropout podcast that “the firm was low on funds, and I knew of the objective and that what the organisation was attempting to do was vital. I offered to support the company, and I ended up giving a $13 million personal loan.” “It had no interest. It was an honest loan.”
Sunny was appointed Theranos’ president and COO in 2009. While they were at work, he and Elizabeth kept their connection a secret. Sunny left Theranos in 2016 after the couple’s separation.
Around that time, the legal troubles began to mount; according to Refinery29, Sunny was prohibited by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from owning or managing a blood laboratory once more. And for violating the U.S. Securities Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought four lawsuits against him.
Sunny’s trial ended in a guilty verdict.
After COVID-19 delays, Sunny’s trial started in March of this year, according to ABC News. In the same courtroom where Elizabeth’s trial and conviction earlier in January took place, Sunny’s trial was also taking place there.
Ten counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to conduct wire fraud were brought against Sunny. To all 12 charges, he has entered a not guilty plea. According to The New York Post, Elizabeth didn’t give a testimony at his trial.
He’s been accused of abuse.
Sunny has since refuted the allegations of emotional and physical abuse that Elizabeth made during her trial.
According to Bloomberg, in texts between the two that were made public during the trial, Sunny wrote things like “Missing u in every breath and in every cell,” to which Elizabeth replied, “ditto.”
According to CNBC, Elizabeth produced papers at her trial that she said Sunny had given her outlining how she ought to behave and speak. She also claimed that he controlled her social interactions and eating.
He didn’t have the nicest reputation at the company.
An ex-Theranos employee said to 60 Minutes that Sunny was brusque with staff members and would immediately dismiss anyone who didn’t provide the desired test results.
He’s not in jail.
Sunny is not currently in police custody, despite the fact that he faces up to two decades in prison on fraud-related charges, unlike Elizabeth.
He sold the home where he and Elizabeth lived together.
Sunny and Elizabeth’s 6,800-square-foot property in Atherton, California, was sold earlier in March for a cool $15.8 million, according to the New York Post. The two initially paid $9 million for the property in 2013.
He was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison.
According to The Washington Post, Federal District Judge Edward J. Davila sentenced Sunny to over 13 years in prison on December 7 in San Jose, California. In July, Sunny was found guilty of 12 offences relating to fraud.
According to WaPost, juries in Elizabeth and Sunny’s cases found that both had deceived investors. Sunny was also found guilty of cheating customers who employed the technology, which was briefly offered at some pharmacies. He’s anticipated to challenge his conviction.