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Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison

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Re: Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison

#21

Post by icedchai »

g42gregory wrote: post #17
icedchai wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the book and also agree with this. She was the CEO, but he "ran" the company. He also put millions of his own money into it to keep it afloat. He should've been the "adult supervision", so to speak.

I was thinking the same thing. But then it occurred to me that she was behaving like a version of Steve Jobs. How would then the "adult supervision" of Steve Jobs look like? Fired on the spot? I don't think it's easy or even possible to provide adult supervision in that environment.

Seeing Steve Jobs did get fired from Apple his first time around, probably. Corporate governance is a thing, they had a board, and Balwani was on it.

Re: Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison

#22

Post by DoktorDelta »

transfire wrote: post #18

I love how I, as a lowly middle-class person, can invest money in a company and if they were pulling the wool over my eyes and I lost my investment, it’s all “oh well, buyer beware”. But let it be some big wigs investing in a disruptive tech (that makes the status quo oh so nervous) then it’s all pitchforks and fire — those devils be damned. Hence I note the faint stench of Denmark in there somewhere.

It's less "disruptive tech" and more "tech that didn't work and reported incorrect results".

Re: Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison

#23

Post by zacharycohn »

aerovistae wrote: post #15
jimbob45 wrote: post #9

I've been waiting for a Theranos post to dredge something up. On a very early Theranos post in 2013, there was a commenter who identified the company as a scam several years early. Naturally, they received minimal attention. Interestingly, though, it was the only comment they ever made. I've wondered if it was a disgruntled insider wanting the truth to come out. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6349808

Oddly that was that account's only comment and they never commented again in the 9 years since.

That is how throwaways work..

Re: Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison

#24

Post by dylan604 »

If you were someone that was a defendant in a case like this where another case finished before you that ended in prison sentence, the natural assumption would be yours is heading the same way. The psychology of that must be intense. If you're the type that accepted that fate, you can start making proper plans for your incarceration too. But these are people that scammed others, so I would assume not the type to accept that fate. I'm curious how strong the temptation to flee would be?

Re: Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison

#25

Post by fasthands9 »

dmix wrote: post #3

I'm happy he got even more than Holmes (11 vs 13). The book made him sound worse than she was and he was the mastermind internally at keeping the staff working and building a culture of misdirection and obedience. He was firing people on an almost daily basis for a while whenever someone questioned their bullshit. Holmes was the showpiece, who got to play the pretend female Steve Jobs visionary role to the press and…

I disagree. She was the CEO and ultimately had the most control. She also did the most lying to investors.

We don't know what SBF will be charged with yet - but how would we feel if one of the other employees who did more of the actual transfers/faulty accounting got more of a sentence? As long as it clear that the CEO (in this case SBF) knew about the wrongdoing I think it is fair to hold them to the harshest sentence - even if they are not the "mastermind".

It's not like Holmes was a random former actress they found to be a clueless spokesperson. She was a smart person with plenty of resources and education.

Re: Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison

#26

Post by mousetree »

icedchai wrote: post #10
dmix wrote: post #3

I'm happy he got even more than Holmes (11 vs 13). The book made him sound worse than she was and he was the mastermind internally at keeping the staff working and building a culture of misdirection and obedience. He was firing people on an almost daily basis for a while whenever someone questioned their bullshit. Holmes was the showpiece, who got to play the pretend female Steve Jobs visionary role to the press and…

I read the book and also agree with this. She was the CEO, but he "ran" the company. He also put millions of his own money into it to keep it afloat. He should've been the "adult supervision", so to speak.

Presumably the judge had more evidence to consider than just what was in "the book".

Re: Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison

#27

Post by highwaylights »

LeroyRaz wrote: post #13
dmix wrote: post #3

I'm happy he got even more than Holmes (11 vs 13). The book made him sound worse than she was and he was the mastermind internally at keeping the staff working and building a culture of misdirection and obedience. He was firing people on an almost daily basis for a while whenever someone questioned their bullshit. Holmes was the showpiece, who got to play the pretend female Steve Jobs visionary role to the press and…

I read the book and I disagree. Ultimately creating a toxic work environment is not why they are going to jail, but for deceiving the public, and investors. Holmes (the person playing Steve Jobs) lead that. I have little doubt that if the genders were reversed that Holmes sentence could be easily twice Sunny's.

This - I mentioned in another thread when Holmes was sentenced that even if convicted she'll not spend that long in jail (maybe 5 years, most of it on license I would guess?). I suspect Balwani will serve most if not all of the 13 years.

I've no wish to defend either of these people given what they've done, I just think it's worth pointing out that ignoring the disparity doesn't make it go away.

Re: Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison

#28

Post by dev_tty01 »

LeroyRaz wrote: post #2

Quoted post unavailable.

Were you in the courtroom for the trials? Did you read all the briefs and transcripts and review all the evidence? They were able to prove 4 counts against her and 12 against him. What is provable and which counts relate to what sentences isn't necessarily intuitive. Why jump to the assumption of sexism without all the relevant info? Even if you had the info, do you have the legal qualifications to evaluate it?

I for one choose to trust my peers who spent weeks hearing all of this and poring over the details. Could it be biased? Sure, that's possible, juries aren't perfect. I just don't understand the rush to assume a sexist bias based solely on the aggregate sentence lengths.

Re: Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison

#29

Post by adrr »

dmix wrote: post #3

I'm happy he got even more than Holmes (11 vs 13). The book made him sound worse than she was and he was the mastermind internally at keeping the staff working and building a culture of misdirection and obedience. He was firing people on an almost daily basis for a while whenever someone questioned their bullshit. Holmes was the showpiece, who got to play the pretend female Steve Jobs visionary role to the press and…

Theranos started in 2003 and had raised $200m+ before sunny joined in 2009. Fraud started before him.
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