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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

#61

Post by twelve40 »

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.

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.

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

#62

Post by miohtama »

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…

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

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

#63

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

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?

CEOs are primarily sales people who exist to sell the company to investors, and to a lesser extent to employees.

A talent for strategy and execution is useful but not essential.

If you execute without selling, you don't have a company. If you sell without executing you can always write it off as a super-exciting best-effort failed adventure from which you learned a lot etc.

As long as you avoid fraud, obvs.

So yes - Holmes was the sales person who bought her own hype. Sunny seems to have been the executioner.

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

#64

Post by metadat »

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…

Mexico has extradition agreements with the US. However it could ostensibly be a decent starting place to get fake documents and head off to begin a new life.

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

#65

Post by Alupis »

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…

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.

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

#67

Post by vr46 »

tamaharbor wrote: post #11
vr46 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems strange that she got away with more, I can't qwhite put my finger on it

She is much better looking than him. And pregnant. No bias at all.

Yes, you've convinced me. Can't argue with either of those.

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

#68

Post by phendrenad2 »

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

These old comments have been analyzed to death on HN actually.

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

#69

Post by notch656a »

Alupis wrote: post #65
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…

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 focuses on some exceptional cases (like perhaps Sunny).

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

#70

Post by killingtime74 »

ubermonkey wrote: post #49
killingtime74 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also change to pleading guilty at that point. It is very late but still has an impact on sentencing. It may also affect parole decisions.

Both Theranos execs were tried in Federal court. There's no parole in the Federal system. This is one reason why you see generally longer "sentences" handed down in state courts (where parole is part of the picture) vs. in Federal (where the number is a more accurate representation of how long they'll be in custody).

Ok. They may still get a reduction for changing their plea at sentencing at least
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