Blood test firm CEO, Indian-American executive indicted
NEW YORK: An Indian-American former president of blood-testing company Theranos along with its founder-CEO has been charged in the US for allegedly engaging in a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud investors, doctors and patients by making false claims about the accuracy of their muchhyped testing devices.
Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, 53, and Elizabeth Holmes, 34, were charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud and appeared on Fridday before US magistrate judge Susan van Keulen in San Jose for their initial appearances, acting United States Attorney Alex Tse said.
According to the indictment unsealed on Friday, the charges stem from allegations Holmes and Balwani engaged in a multimillion dollar scheme to defraud investors, and a separate scheme to defraud doctors and patients.
Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 as a private health care and life sciences company aimed at revolutionizing medical labora- tory testing through allegedly innovative methods for drawing blood, testing blood, and interpreting the resulting patient data.
Balwani, a former boyfriend of Holmes, was employed at Theranos from September of 2009 through 2016. At times during that period, Balwani worked in several capacities including as a member of the company’s board of directors, as its president, and as its chief operating officer.
According to the indictment, Holmes and Balwani used advertisements and solicitations to encourage and induce doctors and patients to use Theranos.