Ex-Theranos president Balwani sentenced to nearly 13 years for fraud

 A U.S. judge on Wednesday sentenced former Theranos Inc President Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani to 12 years and 11 months in prison on charges of defrauding investors and patients of the blood testing startup led by Elizabeth Holmes, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office confirmed, Qazet.az reports.

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, imposed the sentence on Balwani, who was convicted by a jury on two counts of conspiracy and 10 counts of fraud in July.

Prosecutors said Balwani, 57, conspired with Holmes, 38, to deceive Silicon Valley investors into believing the company had achieved miniaturized machines that could accurately run a broad array of medical diagnostic tests from a small amount of blood.

Meanwhile, the company secretly relied on traditional methods to run tests and provided patients with inaccurate results, prosecutors said.

Holmes, who started the company as a college student and became its public face, was indicted alongside Balwani, her former romantic partner, in 2018.