Ex-Theranos executive Sunny Balwani sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison

Sunny Balwani, the former Theranos executive and ex-romantic partner of Elizabeth Holmes, has been sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison over his role in the now-defunct blood testing firm.

The sentencing of Balwani marks the latest milestone in the years-long saga of Theranos, which Holmes founded after dropping out of Stanford at 19 years old. Promising a revolutionary technology that could run hundreds of health tests on just a drop of blood, Theranos attracted big-name backers such as the former secretary of state Henry Kissinger and media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

After years of promoting the technology, Holmes and Balwani were warned that the blood tests were inaccurate, but they continued to raise money from investors, and deployed the technology in some Walgreens stores.

Theranos was at one point valued at more than $9bn, but began to crumble after reporting in the Wall Street Journal in 2015 revealed shortcomings and inaccuracies in its core technology. Holmes and Balwani were charged with fraud after the company dissolved in 2018.

The outcomes of both trials have been seen as harbingers for a new era in Silicon Valley, in which companies can no longer ride unchecked hype and make false promises to secure funding.