Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani, former Theranos executive and romantic partner of Elizabeth Holmes, has been sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison over his role in a massive fraud involving the blood-testing company.

The sentence is slightly longer than that given to Holmes just a few weeks ago.

Balwani was convicted in July on all 12 charges brought against him for defrauding Theranos investors and patients. He is currently facing a maximum of 20 years in prison. His sentencing comes after Holmes received more than 11 years on November 18 on four charges of defrauding investors. 

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Who is Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani?

Balwani was born in Pakistan and attended Aitchison College, a prestigious boarding school in Lahore. Balwani speaks Urdu, Hindi and English. 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.

They later immigrated to the United States.

In 1987, Balwani began undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin as an international student where he was a member of the Pakistani Students Association. 

Balwani left the campus sometime after 1991 to begin working

In official documents from the late 1990s, he was known as Ramesh, his given name. By 2012, he was signing papers at Theranos as Sunny Balwani. 

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He was married to Japanese artist Keiko Fujimoto, with whom lived in San Francisco before their divorce in December 2002. He was in a romantic relationship with Elizabeth Holmes during his tenure at Theranos.

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