Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani is sentenced to nearly 13 years for his role in Theranos fraud

A federal judge in California sentenced former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani to nearly 13 years in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar fraud involving Theranos and its now-disgraced CEO, Elizabeth Holmes, who received an 11-year sentence in a separate trial.

In July, a jury found Balwani guilty on all 12 felony counts of defrauding Theranos investors and the patients that used the company's unreliable blood tests.

In comparison, Holmes was convicted of four wire-fraud related counts and sentenced to a little over 11 years in prison last month.

Balwani was Theranos' second in command and Holmes' former romantic partner, though Holmes has claimed the older-Balwani sexually and emotionally abused her during their relationship. Balwani has denied the allegations through his attorney.

While running the company, the two claimed that Theranos provided never-before-seen technology that could scan patients for hundreds of illnesses and other conditions using just a few drops of blood. Holmes, a Stanford dropout, claimed her company had done what no other scientists did before, by using a proprietary blood-testing device.

Prosecutors maintained that those tests were manipulated, the executives lied about the capabilities of both the tests and the device, while bilking nearly $1 billon from investors based off of a lie.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. [Copyright 2022 NPR]