Balwani's sentence is longer than the more than 11 years company founder Elizabeth Holmes got last month.
Balwani, the former business partner of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, was sentenced to nearly 13 years in federal prison and three years of probation Wednesday for his role in the disgraced blood-test company's years of fraud.
He must surrender by March 15, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila said after he announced the sentence in San Jose, California. Theranos, which promised that its technology could quickly test for a variety of health conditions with just a pinprick of blood, raised hundreds of millions of dollars in investment.
Theranos' president and chief operating officer, Balwani had direct oversight over the company's labs, where some of the most egregious misconduct occurred, prosecutors said. At his trial, prosecutors called witnesses who said Theranos' inaccurate blood tests caused real-world harm.
Messages released during the trial confirmed Balwani's outsize role,“I am responsible for everything at Theranos,” Balwani wrote in a 2015 text message to Holmes. “All have been my decisions too.”
Holmes and Balwani were also romantic partners for much of the company's history, which the pair tried to keep secret from employees, Holmes later defense tried to portray herself as a victim of Balwani's abuse.
Comentários