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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

#71

Post by ydlr »

miohtama wrote: post #62
notch656a wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never had CBP check my passport when walking into Mexico. And Mexican officials are always asleep or absent when I pass through their side. No matter, all they require to enter Mexico is a US Birth Certificate (but they don't ask) lol. People leaving by private boat or plane are basically on a trust system; how the hell would they know if you're flying to Hawaii or not if headed to the Pacific, or whether you're…

Pakistan does not have an extraction treaty with the US, so there is no need to hide there.

Yet, Pakistan routinely cooperates with US when it suits them. Lack of extraction treaty is no guarantee of safety.

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

#72

Post by Alupis »

notch656a wrote: post #69
Alupis wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thousands walking across the boarder don't have the problems someone like Sunny has though, including LEO's out looking for them, facial recognition systems, flagged bank accounts and credit cards, etc. Someone like Sunny can't realistically just drive to and walk across the border.

You may be right. I don't have anywhere near Sunny's problems but I do have a flagged passport after I fought in the militia YPG in Syria (legal, but I seem to have been put on a list which has caused me endless issues with CBP). Alarm bells ring to the Nth degree when I enter, but as far as I can tell they don't have much mechanism to investigate pedestrians leaving. I'm guessing if they do have something it only fo…

You are not currently wanted by the government - and only run into trouble after presenting a passport. This is not how a fugitive on the run would exit (or enter) a country.

There is a lot more to the DHS apparatus than simply scanning passports. Most of it is unseen by the public.

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

#73

Post by eddsh1994 »

notch656a wrote: post #56
Alupis wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would be safe to assume people in this high-flying financial orbit would have access to the sorts of people that could get them out of the country without a passport.

I've never had CBP check my passport when walking into Mexico. And Mexican officials are always asleep or absent when I pass through their side. No matter, all they require to enter Mexico is a US Birth Certificate (but they don't ask) lol. People leaving by private boat or plane are basically on a trust system; how the hell would they know if you're flying to Hawaii or not if headed to the Pacific, or whether you're…

> how the hell would they know if you're flying to Hawaii or not if headed to the Pacific

Fwiw, you have scheduled flight plans and if a pilot did this deliberately they'd be reprimanded hard. You also have to land international flights in designated airports that have immigration. This wouldn't be easy to do if you're both wanted and bankrupt!

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

#74

Post by vkou »

Alupis wrote: post #54
ubermonkey wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both almost certainly surrendered their passports at initial arrest. The time to have fled was before that point.

I think it would be safe to assume people in this high-flying financial orbit would have access to the sorts of people that could get them out of the country without a passport.

Just because you've ripped off Larry Ellison and Henry Kissinger doesn't quite grant you these kinds of globe-trotting powers.

I suppose you could always try to pay a coyote, but, uh, that's a bit of a high-risk play.

Or you could drive into Mexico, but without actually having fuck-you money and connections (These two don't), you're not likely going to stay outside of the arms of law enforcement for very long.

And if all this works out, and you end up on the run, you now have to full-sever every connection you have to anyone you know. Not a lot of fun.

Manning up and just doing the 11 or 13 years in Club Fed seems pretty attractive, compared to all that.

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

#75

Post by dmix »

lupire wrote: post #53
dmix wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 Sunny wasn't just one of the employees, he was essentially a cofounder and was Elizabeth's closest advisor. The book made it sound like he ran the actual company while she was distracted with the media and having dinners with politicians. Re: SBF, he owned 90% of Alameda and was responsi…

> she was distracted with the media and having dinners with politicians. She wasn't distracted, she was the distraction, the pretty young pretend-genius (with no college degree), white blonde lady in her Steve Jobs costume. Do you think Sunny would have gotten all those investments from old military guys?

> Do you think Sunny would have gotten all those investments from old military guys?

You're reading far too much into the wording of my comment.

Yes, being distracted by dinners with politicians and investors was a critical part of the scam. Regardless, having a "real" company is what allowed her have that image. She just wanted to maintain the fantasy lifestyle and didn't care how. The hard day-to-day grunt work was done by Sunny, while she barely talked to employees.

VCs engage in plenty of due diligence into portfolio companies. After 5-6yrs the persuasive pitch deck + founder is no longer good enough to avoid questions. That's where well run company protects the lie long-term, the meat and potatoes.

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

#76

Post by abudabi123 »

notch656a wrote: post #31
dylan604 wrote: post #24

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 acce…

Carlos Ghosn agrees with your sentiment.

There are higher levels to the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's story. Had the media covered the story in the manner of Johnny Depp's trial or the drama comedy roast in, The Wolf of Wall Street, soon enough, we might know Jeffrey Epstein's sentencing length.

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

#77

Post by cameldrv »

lupire wrote: post #57
ffggvv wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

shocked a brown male got a worse sentence than a white female for the same crime

Brown male... with 2 more degrees and decades of experience in business, who did the criminal operations.

What if Sheryl Sandberg had convinced Mark Zuckerberg to commit some sort of fraud at Facebook and they both got convicted. Can you possibly imagine Sandberg serving more time than Zuckerberg? The ages and age differences are very similar.

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

#78

Post by [deleted] »

zozbot234 wrote: post #20
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

It wasn't just a single commenter. Many people over the years commented here at HN that the Theranos folks were outright delusional and batshit crazy. Unfortunately, the investors and patients who ultimately joined in that collective delusion weren't really aware of HN back in the day.

[deleted]

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

#79

Post by alasdair_ »

fasthands9 wrote: post #25
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 senten…

>She also did the most lying to investors.

The reason Sunny got a longer sentence is that unlike Holmes, he was convicted of lying to patients, not just investors.

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

#80

Post by creaghpatr »

miohtama wrote: post #62
notch656a wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never had CBP check my passport when walking into Mexico. And Mexican officials are always asleep or absent when I pass through their side. No matter, all they require to enter Mexico is a US Birth Certificate (but they don't ask) lol. People leaving by private boat or plane are basically on a trust system; how the hell would they know if you're flying to Hawaii or not if headed to the Pacific, or whether you're…

Pakistan does not have an extraction treaty with the US, so there is no need to hide there.

Didn't work out so well for Osama Bin Laden.
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