SAN JOSE -- Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, who along with former lover and business partner Elizabeth Holmes, swindled investors out of millions peddling bogus Theranos blood-testing technology, was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison.
After a morning-long sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila determined Balwani's conviction called for federal prison sentence ranging from 11 years, 3 months -- the prison term given to Holmes last month -- to 14 years.
Prosecutor Jeff Schenk asked Davila to sentence Balwani to the maximum because "white collar crime can and should be deterred."
Meanwhile, Balwani's attorney, Jeff Coopersmith, asked the judge for leniency saying -- "this is obviously a decision that affects a real human being."
Unlike Holmes, who made a tearful plea to the judge, Balwani did not speak on his own behalf.
In the end, Davila decided on sentencing Balwani to 13 years in prison with 3 years supervised release. He will be required to surrender on March 15th of next year.
Balwani was convicted in July of fraud and conspiracy, and his sentencing comes less than three weeks after Holmes, the company's founder and CEO, received more than 11 years in prison for her role in the scheme.
The scandal revolved around the company's false claims to have developed a medical device that could scan for hundreds of diseases and other potential problems with just a few drops of blood taken with a finger prick.
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