Former Theranos COO Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani was convicted on 12 criminal fraud charges, CNBC reported July 7.
Mr. Balwani is the ex-boyfriend of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos who was also found guilty of fraud in January. Unlike Ms. Holmes, Mr. Balwani was convicted of defrauding patients.
“Balwani is not a victim,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Schenk said in his closing argument, according to CNBC. “He is a perpetrator of the fraud. … Mr. Balwani knows that the biggest threat to fraud is the truth.”
Theranos, a health tech company that promised to revolutionize blood testing, went defunct after once being valued at $9 billion. The U.S. government charged the pair with lying about the company's finances in order to bilk investors and patients out of millions of dollars.
"We are obviously disappointed with the verdicts. We plan to study and consider all of Mr. Balwani’s options, including an appeal," Balwani’s attorney, Jeffrey Coopersmith, said in a statement to the media.