A decide within the US has sentenced former Theranos government Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to just about 13 years in jail for his position within the firm’s blood-testing hoax.

His sentence was barely longer than that given to the chief government, who was his lover and confederate in certainly one of Silicon Valley’s largest scandals.

Balwani was convicted in July of fraud and conspiracy linked to the corporate’s bogus medical know-how that duped buyers and endangered sufferers.

His sentencing in California got here lower than three weeks after Elizabeth Holmes, the corporate’s founder and chief government, acquired greater than 11 years in jail for her half within the scheme.

The scandal revolved across the firm’s false claims to have developed a tool that would scan for a whole bunch of ailments and different potential issues with only a few drops of blood taken with a finger prick.

The case threw a vibrant mild on Silicon Valley’s darkish aspect, exposing how its tradition of hype and boundless ambition might veer into lies.

Holmes, 38, might have gotten as much as 20 years in jail – a penalty that US District Judge Edward Davila might have imposed on Balwani, who spent six years as Theranos’ chief working officer whereas remaining romantically concerned with Holmes till a bitter break up in 2016.

While giving proof in her trial, Holmes accused Balwani, 57, of manipulating her by way of years of emotional and sexual abuse. Balwani’s lawyer has denied the allegations.

The two trials had considerably totally different outcomes.

Unlike Balwani, Holmes was acquitted on a number of prices of defrauding and conspiring towards individuals who paid for Theranos blood assessments that produced deceptive outcomes and will have pointed sufferers towards the improper therapy.

The jury in Holmes’ trial was additionally deadlocked on three prices.

Balwani was convicted on all 12 felony counts, and his attorneys sought a much more lenient sentence of simply 4 to 10 months in jail. Prosecutors for the justice division requested for 15 years. A probation report really useful 9 years.

The decide finally gave Holmes 11 years and three months in jail and really useful that the sentence be served in a low-security facility.

Federal prosecutors additionally need the decide to order Balwani to pay 804 million {dollars} (£658 million) in restitution to defrauded buyers – the identical quantity sought from Holmes.

The decide deferred a call on restitution throughout Holmes’ sentencing in November till an unspecified future date.

In courtroom paperwork, Balwani’s attorneys painted him as a hardworking immigrant who moved from India to the US throughout the Nineteen Eighties to turn out to be the primary member of his household to attend school.

He graduated from the University of Texas in 1990 with a level in info programs.

He later moved to Silicon Valley, the place he first labored as a pc programmer for Microsoft earlier than founding a web based startup that he bought for tens of millions of {dollars} throughout the dot-com growth of the Nineteen Nineties.

Balwani and Holmes met across the similar time she dropped out of Stanford University to begin Theranos in 2003. He turned enthralled together with her and her quest to revolutionise well being care.

Balwani’s attorneys stated he finally invested about 5 million {dollars} (£4 million) in a stake in Theranos that finally turned price about 500 million {dollars} on paper – a fraction of Holmes’ one-time fortune of of 4.5 billion {dollars} (£3.6 billion).

That wealth evaporated after Theranos started to unravel in 2015 amid revelations that its blood-testing know-how by no means labored as Holmes had boasted in glowing journal articles that likened her to Silicon Valley visionaries equivalent to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Before Theranos’ downfall, Holmes teamed up with Balwani to boost cash from deep-pocketed buyers that included software program mogul Larry Ellison and media magnate Rupert Murdoch.

“Mr Balwani is not the same as Elizabeth Holmes,” his attorneys wrote in a memo to the decide.

“He actually invested millions of dollars of his own money; he never sought fame or recognition; and he has a long history of quietly giving to those less fortunate.”

Balwani’s attorneys additionally asserted that Holmes “was dramatically more culpable” for the Theranos fraud.

Echoing comparable claims made by Holmes’s attorneys earlier than her sentencing, Balwani’s attorneys additionally argued that he has been adequately punished by the extraordinary media protection of Theranos, which has been the topic of a ebook, documentary and award-winning TV sequence.

Balwani “has lost his career, his reputation and his ability to meaningfully work again”, his attorneys wrote.

Federal prosecutors solid Balwani as a ruthless, power-hungry confederate in crimes that ripped off buyers and imperilled individuals who acquired flawed outcomes.

The blood assessments have been to be obtainable in a partnership with Walgreen’s that Balwani helped engineer.

“Balwani presented a fake story about Theranos’ technology and financial stability day after day in meeting after meeting,” the prosecutors wrote of their memo to the decide.

“Balwani maintained this façade of accomplishments, after making the calculated decision that honesty would destroy Theranos.”