Sunny Balwani

Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani (born June 13, 1965)[1] is a Pakistani-born businessman, former president and chief operating officer of Theranos, which was a privately held health technology company founded by his then-girlfriend Elizabeth Holmes.

Balwani and Holmes were criminally charged by federal authorities for operating the business as a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud investors and patients.

[9] Balwani was portrayed by Naveen Andrews in the 2022 miniseries The Dropout, which documented his relationship with Holmes and his role within Theranos.

[2] His family eventually moved to India "because being a Hindu in a mostly all-Muslim country of Pakistan was very difficult" according to Balwani's personal lawyer.

"[2] Balwani left the campus sometime after 1991 to begin working; he would eventually complete a degree, but not until 1997 with a bachelor's in information systems.

In July 2000, Balwani sold his shares in Commerce One, netting nearly $40 million shortly before the company went out of business, just before the dot com bubble burst.

[14] While enrolled at Berkeley, Balwani, who was 37 at the time, met Elizabeth Holmes, who was 18 and in her senior year of high school.

[17] The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2015 that the Edison blood testing device by Theranos produced inaccurate medical diagnoses and results.

[20] Edison machines frequently failed quality-control checks and produced widely varying results, a finding that was corroborated in a report released in March 2016 by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

[30] On July 7, 2022, Balwani was found guilty on all counts and faced up to 20 years in prison and millions of dollars in restitution.

[6][31] Balwani moved for appellate bail, but the judge denied his motion, citing a low likelihood of the appeal succeeding.

[35] In May 2023 during the restitution phase, Holmes and Balwani were ordered to pay $452 million to the victims of the fraud, with responsibility for the payment shared between them.

[39] During her trial, Holmes testified that she had been raped while she was a student at Stanford and that she had sought solace from Balwani in the aftermath of the incident.

[41] However, she later testified that Balwani had not forced her to make the false statements to investors, business partners, journalists and company directors that had been described in the case.

[42] In court filings, Balwani and his ex-wife Fujimoto have "categorically" denied abuse allegations, calling them "false and inflammatory".