Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani’s attraction to overturn their fraud convictions and cut back their jail sentences was denied Monday by the Northern District Courtroom of California, which additionally refused to melt their $452 million joint restitution order.
Holmes, the founding father of Theranos, and Balwani, its former COO, had been convicted in separate trials in 2022 for defrauding buyers in regards to the capabilities of Theranos’ blood-testing know-how. Holmes was sentenced to greater than 11 years in jail, and Balwani obtained almost 13 years. Each started serving their sentences in 2023.
Of their attraction, the 2 argued that the district court docket allowed improper testimony from former Theranos workers who served as lay witnesses however wound up providing improper professional testimony with out the mandatory authorized designation. The appeals panel agreed that some testimony crossed into professional territory however concluded the errors had been innocent.
Holmes additionally contested the inclusion of a damning government report that highlighted failures in Theranos’ lab, arguing it unfairly influenced the jury. However the court docket discovered the report related in establishing her data and intent. Holmes argued that her rights had been violated when she was prohibited from cross-examining a former Theranos laboratory director concerning points of his post-Theranos employment. Once more, the appellate panel disagreed, saying the court docket didn’t “abuse its discretion in limiting the scope of the cross-examination.”
In the meantime, Balwani claimed his fees had been improperly expanded through the trial (the panel dismissed this argument fairly forcefully). He additionally argued that his proper to a good trial was violated as a result of the federal government didn’t right what he mentioned was false testimony from two buyers. The court docket rejected that argument, too, saying even when there have been points, they wouldn’t have affected the result of the case.
Balwani is serving his sentence on the grimly named Terminal Island, a minimum-security federal facility simply outdoors Los Angeles; Holmes is serving hers at FPC Bryan, a minimum-security federal jail camp that’s roughly 100 miles from Houston.
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