Ex-Theranos executive headed to prison after losing appeal

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Technology Writer

Former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani will be heading to prison later this month after an appeals court rejected his bid to remain free while he contests his conviction for carrying out a blood-testing hoax with his former boss and lover, Elizabeth Holmes.

After the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision refusing Balwani’s request, U.S District Judge Edward Davila on Friday ordered him to start his nearly 13-year prison sentence on April 20.

One of Balwani’s lawyers had filed a motion late Thursday seeking nearly two weeks to give Balwani time to make travel arrangements and make other preparations for a trip that will send him to a federal prison in Southern California.

The April 20 reporting date means Balwani will be heading to prison a week before Holmes, Theranos’ founder and CEO, is scheduled to begin a more than 11-year prison sentence after being convicted on four counts of fraud and conspiracy last year.

Holmes, 39, appeared before Davila last month along with her lawyers in an effort to persuade the judge to allow her to remain free while she pursues her own appeal. Davila hasn’t ruled on Holmes’ request yet.

Davila last month rejected Balwani’s request to remain free while he appeals his conviction on 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy and ordered him to report to prison March 16. Balwani then avoided having to report on that date by appealing Davila’s ruling against him.

But three judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded Balwani hadn’t provided enough compelling evidence to convince them that his conviction is likely to be overturned.

Balwani will serve his sentence in a prison near a harbor in San Pedro, California, located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles. The Terminal Island prison has incarcerated several other prominent figures, including gangster Al Capone in the 1930s, apocalyptic cult leader Charles Manson for an auto theft in the 1950s, and LSD evangelist Timothy Leary in the 1970s.

Although they had separate trials, Holmes and Balwani were accused of essentially the same crimes centered on a ruse touting Theranos’ blood-testing system as a revolutionary breakthrough in health care. The claims helped the company become a Silicon Valley sensation that raised nearly $1 billion from investors.

But its technology never came close to working like Holmes and Balwani boasted, resulting in Theranos’ scandalous collapse and a criminal case that shined a bright light on Silicon Valley greed and hubris.