Former Theranos CEO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani will face jail later this month after an appeals court denied his request to be released while he is challenging his conviction for performing a blood test on his former boss and lover, Elizabeth Holmes.
After the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision denying Balwani’s request, US District Judge Edward Davila on Friday ordered that he begin his nearly 13-year sentence on April 20.
One of Balwani’s attorneys filed a motion late Thursday to give Balwani nearly two weeks to make travel and other arrangements for a trip that will take him to a federal prison in Southern California.
The April 20 filing deadline means Balwani goes to jail a week ahead of Holmes, the Theranos founder and CEO, who is scheduled to serve more than 11 years in prison after being convicted on four counts of fraud and conspiracy last year had been.
Holmes, 39, appeared before Davila last month along with her lawyers to persuade the judge to allow her to remain free while she pursues her own appeal. Davila hasn’t decided on Holmes’ proposal yet.
Davila last month denied Balwani’s request for release while he was appealing his conviction on 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy and ordered him to report to jail on March 16. Balwani then avoided having to report that day by appealing Davila’s verdict.
However, three judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Balwani had not presented enough compelling evidence to convince them that his conviction was likely to be overturned.
Balwani will serve his sentence in a prison near a port in San Pedro, California, about 50 kilometers from downtown Los Angeles. Terminal Island Jail has imprisoned several other prominent figures, including gangster Al Capone in the 1930s, apocalyptic cult leader Charles Manson for a car theft in the 1950s, and LSD evangelist Timothy Leary in the 1970s.
Although they had separate trials, Holmes and Balwani were charged with essentially the same crimes, centered on a ploy that touted Theranos’ blood testing system as a revolutionary breakthrough in healthcare. The claims helped the company become a Silicon Valley sensation, raising nearly $1 billion from investors.
But its technology never worked nearly as Holmes and Balwani boasted, leading to the scandalous collapse of Theranos and a criminal case that shed a bright light on Silicon Valley’s greed and hubris.