Why was Sunny found guilty of patient fraud, where Elizabeth wasn't? Likely because:<p>> At Balwani’s trial, his lawyers said that Holmes was in charge of the company. But prosecutors pointed to a text message from Balwani to Holmes — which read “I am responsible for everything at Theranos” — as evidence that he also played a role. [1]<p>> The panel also heard from a laboratory director, regulator and patient who didn’t testify against Holmes. That testimony was aimed at underscoring his familiarity with the failed blood tests. [2]<p>> “Balwani ran the lab for a time and was just as involved as Holmes in management,” said Andrey Spektor, a criminal defense lawyer not involved in the case. “To some extent, the government had a stronger case against him.” [2]<p>The jury seemed to believe that he was more hands-on with the laboratory work.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/7/23198848/sunny-balwani-guilty-theranos-fraud-holmes" rel="nofollow">https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/7/23198848/sunny-balwani-gui...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-07/theranos-jury-has-reached-verdict-in-sunny-balwani-fraud-trial" rel="nofollow">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-07/theranos-...</a>
Having read a lot about the whole Theranos matter I feel like Sunny really made some bad life decisions:<p>Imagine being in his shoes: It's the early 2000s. You're in China learning Mandarain, you're in your late 30s, you made $40 million selling your shares of your company in July 2000 shortly before it failed in the dot.com bust and you meet this 18 year old who you eventually have a romantic relationship with[3]. They did admit a romantic relationship in court documents, so this isn't making stuff up. Life's big decisions confront you, and what do you end up doing? Let's see how it worked out. All this is on the Wikipedia page for Sunny[1]:<p>Fails:<p>- Divorce wife.<p>- Loan $13 million, no interest to Theranos. [2]<p>- Become COO of biotech company even though you have no formal background in biotech.<p>- Waste many years of your life in fraudulent company.<p>- Be convicted of fraud, disgraced, and possibly spend years in prison.<p>- She throws you under the bus and testifies that her bad behavior at Theranos was largely the result of your abuse sexual and otherwise. Jury doesn't believe it, but her accusation is still out there.<p>- Have no kids, never remarry. Holmes gets married and has a kid as she was awaiting her criminal trial.<p>Wins:<p>+ Have romantic relationship with beautiful lady in her 20s.<p>Anyway, there's some big life decisions here that, IMHO, Sunny made very poorly.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_Balwani" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_Balwani</a><p>[2]<a href="https://stylecaster.com/sunny-balwani-net-worth/" rel="nofollow">https://stylecaster.com/sunny-balwani-net-worth/</a><p>[3]"Holmes and Balwani met for the first time in 2002. The pair initially met in Beijing, China, while on a language immersion program with Stanford University. Holmes was an 18-year-old high school senior at the time, whereas Balwani was a married, 37-year-old university student completing his MBA at the University of California, Berkeley. All in all, the pair had a 19 year age difference" <a href="https://stylecaster.com/elizabeth-holmes-sunny-balwani/" rel="nofollow">https://stylecaster.com/elizabeth-holmes-sunny-balwani/</a>
I'll never forget this exchange of texts shown at the hearing.<p>Holmes:<p>You are the breeze in the desert for me<p>My water<p>And ocean<p>Meant to be only together tiger<p>Balwani:<p>ok
Just watched the Dropout. It's funny that Murdoch was a major investor in Theranos, the WSJ exposed their fraud, and a subsidiary of 20th century Fox produces a TV show about the whole thing.
The concept of “fake it til you make it” gets roasted a lot in relation to Theranos, but the media has it wrong, IMHO. That phrase doesn’t mean lie about your manual (or whatever - commercial analyzer) process until you figure out how to do the thing you are trying to get to. It means to OPENLY fake it, with the understanding by everyone involved that the “fake” process on the path towards the vision. It’s OPENLY FAKE IT til you make it, not LIE til you make it! If they had been open about the stepping stone use of third party analyzers (and other similar behavior), none of this would have happened. They might not have made it - they were running out of $ - but at least they wouldn’t be going to jail!
Schadenfreude and gladness that this guy got convicted.<p>He was abusive and threatening to the employee(s) who raised genuine concerns about the technology and the medical claims being made.
Are ANY of Theranos claims true? I mean is there any substantial science or tech that came out of the company even if it wasn't what they promised?<p>edit:just saw this great comment about this. Apparently the technology exists to do what they were claiming, just not in the minuscule amounts that they claimed they could use.<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32020273" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32020273</a>
If what has been publicized about the couple and their company is true. This is a relief to the entrepreneurial community.<p>Startups are built on trust & dreams. It is important that predatory or fraud-like behavior with investors be dealt with so it does not harm the ones who are actually trying to accomplish something.
I remember I was <i>very</i> excited about leaving Microsoft for Theranos when they were on the rise (before WSJ publications). I thought it would be a great opportunity to apply my expertise (machine learning) to their application.<p>But then I researched them and saw war criminal (Kissinger) on their board and total lack of people with domain/business expertise in the area. I decided not to join.<p><i>Always</i> do your research on potential startups before jumping on board.
Remember the Family Guy skin color chart?<p><a href="https://twitter.com/john_self/status/914919584406306817" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/john_self/status/914919584406306817</a>
If a scam involving high-up US[1] people (Kissinger was on the board) wants to involve you, here's a table for what will happen depending on your intended role:<p>Co-conspirator (everyone else organizing it): Nothing<p>Front person who talks directly with the higher-ups (Holmes): You'll get dragged through the media, but the high-ups won't let you get ruined lest everyone else see it and refuse to work with them next time they're looking for someone.<p>Axe-man who does the front person's dirty work (Balwani): You'll get thrown under the bus, because after working as the axe man for a few years, you've absorbed all the direct personal anger and discarding you means getting rid of part of the anger.<p>Peon (Theranos employees): You'll be hounded on the basis of your boss's guilty paranoia even if you <i>want</i> to comply and take home a paycheck, and when it all comes down you'll be out a few years of your life with nothing to show for it. Of course, this is no worse an end than what awaits employees at cultlike startups with bad management, except for the fact that you might unwittingly become a directly culpable axe-man bit by bit without noticing what you're becoming inseparable from.<p>[1] If the high-ups aren't enmeshed within the governing body you're beholden to, they can't protect you even if you're an equal co-conspirator or a front person they might need another one of in the future, and this ranking doesn't apply.
going away for a loooooong time. The sentencing will probably probably amount to a life sentence at medium security prison. so much for the popular belief that America is soft on white collar crime. hardly.<p>he fucked up big time