Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani who happens to be the former president of US-based blood testing company Theranos, has been sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison. He was found guilty on charges of defrauding investors and endangering patients.
Balwani will have to surrender before March 15, 2023, and will be in custody for 155 months or 13 years in prison. Last month, Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos and Balwani’s business partner was sentenced to 135 months or 11 years in prison.
Holmes and Balwani claimed that Theranos has developed a revolutionary medical device before the company went down following an investigation. Balwani worked in various capacities at Theranos from September 2009 through July 2016. He also indulged in wire fraud against investors between 2010 and 2015.
Balwani convinced investors that Theranos would generate $100 million and will break even in 2014 and that the blood-testing company would make $1 billion in revenues in 2015. However, the truth was that Theranos was using conventional machines for blood testing and Balwani was well aware that Theranos will generate negligible to modest revenues in 2014 and 2015.
