April 2, 2022

Preview: Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty. Now her COO is on trial.

00:02:37

Summary

Main Topic: The podcast episode discusses Sonny Balwani, the COO of Theranos, a biotech startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes when she was 19 years old. Balwani is now facing similar charges of fraud as Holmes, who was recently convicted of four counts of fraud.

Key Points:

Sonny Balwani is a lesser-known figure compared to Elizabeth Holmes, despite being her closest confidant and COO of Theranos.
Balwani's relationship with Holmes was revealed during her trial, including their secret decade-long romance.
The defense for Balwani in his upcoming trial is not yet clear, but it's expected to be a significant event, given the lack of information about him compared to Holmes.
Rebecca Jarvis, a journalist from ABC News, is a guest on the podcast, discussing her podcast and Hulu series, "The Dropout," which is based on the Theranos story.

Participants:

Shamita Basu, host of the Apple News podcast "In Conversation"
Rebecca Jarvis, journalist from ABC News and host of the podcast "The Dropout"

Takeaways:

Show Notes

When it came to light that the blood-testing technology behind the biotech startup Theranos didn’t work, the enigmatic founder, Elizabeth Holmes, became the subject of intense scrutiny. While Holmes has been in the spotlight, there’s another person at the center of this story: Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. Balwani and Holmes dated in secret for more than a decade, and he eventually became COO of Theranos. Balwani’s trial is now underway. Apple News In Conversation’s Shumita Basu spoke with Rebecca Jarvis, host of ABC Audio’s podcast on Theranos, The Dropout, about what to expect in this latest court case. This is a preview of that conversation. Listen to the full episode on Apple News In Conversation.

Transcript

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Shamita Basu: This is In Conversation from Apple News. I'm Shamita Basu. Elizabeth Holmes was only 19 years old when she founded the biotech startup Theranos. And she knew that she had a compelling pitch. Just one drop of blood is all it takes to perform hundreds of diagnostic tests. But the technology she was pushing didn't work. And that meant real people were getting wrong diagnoses.

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Shamita Basu: Earlier this year, Holmes was convicted of four counts of fraud. She faces up to 80 years in prison. But while she was the one standing in the spotlight, there's another person at the center of the story who's worth knowing. Sonny Balwani, the COO of Theranos.

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Shamita Basu: If you were to Google right now, Sonny Balwani, there is very little that you will find, very few pictures that you will find of the actual Sonny Balwani outside of the deposition video. There just so little on him.

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Rebecca Jarvis: That's right. I've been covering the story of Theranos for years, and I've had the chance to talk to many of the key players involved. But Sonny Balwani is a bit of an enigma. He's been largely absent from the public eye, and yet, he's a crucial figure in the story of Theranos.

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Shamita Basu: Rebecca Jarvis from ABC News has been following the story of Theranos closely. Her podcast about Theranos called The Dropout was the basis of the new Hulu series with the same name. I asked Rebecca to tell us everything there is to know about Balwani, Elizabeth Holmes' closest confidant during the Theranos years.

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Rebecca Jarvis: During Holmes' trial, we learned more about their relationship and how they dated in secret for over a decade. We saw all of the documentation, the notes that she had written to herself, which she said at trial were things that Sonny Belwani told her to do, like don't take a meeting for more than five minutes. Don't speak in that quote-unquote girly voice.

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Shamita Basu: Balwani's trial is now underway. He's facing similar charges as Holmes, and he's pleaded not guilty. What is the defense for Sonny Balwani? Do they put a lot of people on the stand? If he goes on the stand, it will be fascinating because we've heard so much less from him than we ever heard from Elizabeth over the years.

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Rebecca Jarvis: I think the defense will try to paint Sonny Balwani as a loyal partner to Elizabeth Holmes, someone who was deeply invested in the success of Theranos. They may try to show that he was a key player in the company's early days, and that he was instrumental in helping Holmes to build the business.

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Shamita Basu: If you want to listen to the full episode, you can find us in the podcast app by searching Apple News in Conversation. You can follow us there. And if you like what you hear, don't forget to rate and review the show. Thanks.

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[End of conversation]