Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the former chairman of Theranos and former partner of the company’s founder, Elizabeth Holmes, has been found guilty of fraud for his role in the collapse of the $9 billion blood-testing startup, according to Bloomberg.
Thursday’s ruling came six months after Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors in the company, which had promised to revolutionize the medical industry by using a few drops of blood to perform a series of health tests.
Balwani faces up to 20 years in prison on the charges.
The pair went on trial on charges of lying to investors and patients about the accuracy and capabilities of Theranos’ machines. As the problems came to light, the company collapsed amid regulatory sanctions, shareholder lawsuits and recriminations. This failure led to the writing of books, the filming of a documentary and a television series.
While Holmes was the company’s public face, prosecutors said he played an important role. Jurors heard some of the same damaging evidence that led to Holmes’ conviction, including emails etc linking the pair both professionally and romantically.
The committee also heard from a lab manager and a patient who did not testify against Holmes. These statements were intended to show his knowledge of the failed blood tests.
Holmes has not yet been sentenced and is asking the judge who presided over her trial to overturn her conviction.
Jurors found Balwani guilty of all charges against him, including two counts of conspiring with Holmes, six counts of defrauding investors and four counts of patient fraud. The verdict against Holmes was mixed, with jurors acquitting her on the patient fraud charges and unable to reach a verdict on some of the investor fraud charges.
Balwani denied the charges of conspiracy and fraud.
During a closing argument that lasted more than 12 hours over three days, Balwani’s lawyer argued that the Silicon Valley entrepreneur was blindsided by Holmes in the same way high-profile investors and board members were blindsided.
The prosecutor said they cooperated in every aspect of Theranos’ operations, including withholding key information from some employees in an effort to maintain the alleged fraud.
Source: Capital
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