Newsdeck

BIOTECHNOLOGY SCAM TRIAL

US jury convicts former Theranos executive Sunny Balwani of fraud

Former Theranos executive Ramesh ‘Sunny' Balwani (left) and his lawyer leave the Robert F Peckham Federal Building on 7 July 2022 in San Jose, California. (Photo: David Odisho / Getty Images)

A US jury on Thursday convicted former Theranos president Ramesh ‘Sunny' Balwani of lying to investors and patients about the company's finances and its machines' ability to run a broad range of blood tests.

Balwani was convicted on two counts of conspiracy and 10 counts of fraud, a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office confirmed.

An attorney for Balwani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The jury in San Jose, California, handed down its verdict after deliberating for a little more than five days.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who initially faced the same charges, was convicted on three counts of fraud and one count of conspiracy at a separate trial in January.

Balwani and Holmes were charged in 2018 with lying to investors about the company’s finances and its machines’ ability to run a broad range of tests from a few drops of blood. Prosecutors also charged the pair with duping patients about the tests’ accuracy.

They were granted separate trials after Holmes said she would testify that Balwani was abusive towards her in their romantic relationship. Balwani has denied the allegations.

Theranos investors were drawn to Holmes after her promise to upend the laboratory testing industry by creating portable machines that could run a broad array of tests.

The company touted work with drugmakers, pharmacies and the US military, and received investments from well-known media businessman Rupert Murdoch.

Theranos collapsed after The Wall Street Journal published a series of articles, starting in 2015, that suggested its devices were flawed and inaccurate.

At trial, Holmes made the somewhat unusual decision to testify in her own defence and denied lying to investors.

She is scheduled to be sentenced on 26 September. She has argued that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict.

(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller.)

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

[%% img-description %%]

Spotting False Information During Elections: A Digital Literacy Workshop

In today's digital age, the spread of misinformation can influence public opinion and undermine the democratic process, especially during election periods. Join us for a vital training session designed to empower voters with the skills needed to discern fact from fiction, on Wed 15 May at 12:00, live, online and free of charge.

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider
Daily Maverick Elections Toolbox

Download the Daily Maverick Elections Toolbox.

+ Your election day questions answered
+ What's different this election
+ Test yourself! Take the quiz