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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

#101

Post by notch656a »

Alupis wrote: post #72
notch656a wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I am fascinated to learn more about the apparatus that checks pedestrians leaving the US. I understand there is doubtlessly unseen stuff going on there. Do you have any materials or primary sources I can look at to understand what you're talking about? It has been my experience when crossing after scanning my passport the officer goes from jovial to shocked/unexpected (I don't look like or act someone who would have a flagged passport) which leads me to believe there is at least in many cases no advanced warning to them a flagged individual is approaching.

Now I know the government must surely have these systems but I think it may be doubtful how effective they've set it up to be to stop people leaving the country if by foot. The flow of people leaving the border in general is just way lower scrutiny, in my experience living in a border state. I would be shocked if the average say non-violent felon fugitive has much trouble leaving if they're not on a flight manifest.

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

#102

Post by johnwalkr »

Alupis wrote: post #82
vkou wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think we're underestimating just how many very skilled folks are willing to lend a great deal of discretion for the right price. Just look at the recent Carlos Ghosn[1] situation. Former USASF operators working as Private Security Contractors smuggled him out of the country. The plot involved what appears to be close to a dozen people too, and included falsifying passenger records on multiple international flights…

Ghosn, a Lebanese/French citizen, used American mercenaries to help him abscond from Japan for Lebanon, with at least an narrative (rightly or wrongly) that he wasn't allowed due process in Japan.

It's probably 2 orders of magnitude harder, in the long-term, to arrange for a high-profile American fugitive to use American mercenaries to abscond to another country.

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

#103

Post by achow »

nova22033 wrote: post #5

HE was convicted on 12 counts. She was convicted on 4 counts. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/07/1141278121/theranos-sunny-bal... In July, a jury found Balwani guilty on all 12 felony counts of defrauding Theranos investors and the patients that used the company's unreliable blood tests. In comparison, Holmes was convicted of four wire-fraud related counts and sentenced to a little over 11 years in prison last month.

Different juries, different outcomes for the same crimes..

Unlike the jury at Holmes’ trial, the jury at Balwani’s trial held him accountable for defrauding patients, not just investors.

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

#104

Post by staticman2 »

version_five wrote: post #84
twelve40 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that guy is on another level : ) > splitting his time between Paris and Tokyo and logging roughly 150,000 miles (241 400 km) in airplanes per year even before his latest adventures, he lived a very, very intense life all over the world, including the Lebanon, which is an adventure on its own. It'd be harder to pull off for an average tech executive.

If I'm ever a multi- billionaire, I will invest in a stand-by exfiltratiom team that is ready to get me out of whatever I get into and take me to a friendly place. If guys like Musk and Gates don't have this, their priorities are all wrong. I assume Peter Thiel does.

I'll gladly take your money to be on standby to exfiltrate you, good sir, and happily say "Sorry boss, can't be done" if you ever ask me to actually risk jail time for your privileged, billionnaire ass.

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

#105

Post by twelve40 »

staticman2 wrote: post #104
version_five wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I'm ever a multi- billionaire, I will invest in a stand-by exfiltratiom team that is ready to get me out of whatever I get into and take me to a friendly place. If guys like Musk and Gates don't have this, their priorities are all wrong. I assume Peter Thiel does.

I'll gladly take your money to be on standby to exfiltrate you, good sir, and happily say "Sorry boss, can't be done" if you ever ask me to actually risk jail time for your privileged, billionnaire ass.

well, Ghosn was successfully exfiltrated by his team, so it is possible!

although his rescuers got busted, but let's hope he will make them whole eventually.

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

#107

Post by highwaylights »

dmix wrote: post #81
highwaylights wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen a lot of excuses from CEO's for why they aren't responsible for their actions but "I didn't have adult supervision" takes the cake.

That's a deliberate over simplification of what that comment said.

It is and it isn't.

My point was that regardless of anything else going on, when you're the CEO, and your business card says "CEO", then it happened on your watch (the first rule of leadership being everything is your fault etc.)

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

#108

Post by highwaylights »

ineedasername wrote: post #51
highwaylights wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen a lot of excuses from CEO's for why they aren't responsible for their actions but "I didn't have adult supervision" takes the cake.

Eh, Holmes was 19 when she dropped out of colleges. Despite legal adulthood, people are disproportionately stupid and/or naive at that age. It by no means excuses what she did and I think her sentence was at least reasonable and perhaps too lenient. But I think age and the lack of more experienced people with level heads around her is 1) a slight mitigating circumstance and 2) partly her own fault. In short, adult su…

I don't disagree with any of what you've said here but then that means the problem is the system itself.

If teenagers aren't responsible enough to run companies, the law shouldn't allow them to run companies. Make the minimum age of running a company 25.

I imagine a lot of YCombinator founders would disagree with this, but I also imagine those same people would agree that they're responsible for their actions.

I also imagine the Carmacks/Zuckerbergs/Jobs/Gates of the world would take umbrage with such a ban.

What shouldn't happen is allowing someone leniency after fraudulently running a health company that has caused harm to innocent people.

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

#109

Post by highwaylights »

zaroth wrote: post #42
nirav72 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought federal sentences did not have parole? So a person has to serve their full term.

You thought right. Parent comment is wrong. Many random “bet she won’t serve half of that” comments were corrected in the original discussion.

I'm not familiar with how this works, and I can't edit my comment now, but I learned something new today.

I'm also really trying not to believe that this will be mitigated in some other way. (Is it possible she could serve some of her sentence at home if a judge rules that way, for example? This is a genuine question btw).

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

#110

Post by wanderlust123 »

dmix wrote: post #48
adrr wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Well, technically early on it was a real business and a genuine attempt to create the blood meter. It was when it became apparent it wasn't going to work but they still maintained that fiction was when it turned into a fraud. A legitimate startup morphed into a fraud, coincidentally not long after Sunny joined and started secretly dating her.

You are trying way too hard to shift the blame here. I wonder why that is?
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