Tag: theranos

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Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison for defrauding patients and investors

The former COO of disgraced blood testing startup Theranos, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani was sentenced to 155 months, or about 13 years, in prison, and three years of probation. After a three-month trial, Balwani was found guilty on all 12 criminal charges, ranging from defrauding patients and investors to conspiring to commit fraud. Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on four of these charges and was sentenced to 11.25 years in prison last month.

Despite the disparate outcomes from the two separate juries in two individual trials, Judge Ed Davila calculated Holmes’ and Balwani’s sentencing ranges to be exactly the same: 135 to 168 months, or 11.25 to 14 years. In both cases, prosecutor Jeff Schenk countered by asking for 15 years.

Balwani’s lawyers attempted to argue that he should get a more lenient sentence than Holmes, as he was not CEO.

“He’s not Ms. Holmes. He did not pursue fame and fortune,” said Balwani’s attorney Jeffrey Coopersmith.

Judge Davila even noted that the court saw another side of Balwani when they were told about his charitable giving, some of which occurred after Theranos. Yet Balwani still received a severe sentence of 13 years.

Holmes and Balwani were supposed to be tried for fraud together, but the former CEO filed for a separate trial, stating that Balwani, who is 20 years her senior, had emotionally and sexually abused her during their long romantic relationship. Though the court was not ruling on those allegations, the judge granted the request.

Throughout the trial, Balwani’s lawyers attempted to make the case that even though he was an investor and executive at Theranos, he was not involved in key decision-making. The defense failed to argue for his innocence, though. In one piece of evidence, the jury was presented a text from Balwani to Holmes that read, “I am responsible for everything at Theranos.”

Balwani’s trial featured the same evidence that indicted Holmes. The prosecution focused on a key piece of evidence relating to Theranos’ relationship with Walgreens. The biotech startup’s faulty technology made its way into 41 Walgreens stores, but unbeknownst to the pharmacy giant, most of the tests were conducted on third-party equipment. Theranos’ own machines couldn’t produce accurate test results, so a lot of patients had blood drawn not with a finger prick but intravenously. So, Walgreens basically spent $140 million in its partnership with Theranos, only for the startup to use the same old tech that was already in use.

Despite claims to the contrary, a Walgreens executive testified that he worked closely with Balwani on the deal. The prosecution also displayed evidence of a text from Balwani to Holmes stating that he deliberately didn’t tell Walgreens that they were using different machines.

For patients that were unlucky enough to have their blood tested with Theranos’ technology, some got wildly inaccurate results that caused significant disruption to their lives. In one case, a mother with a history of miscarriages was wrongly informed that she would have another unsuccessful pregnancy. Another patient, Erin Tompkins, used Theranos for its low costs, got flagged as HIV-positive, and then lived in limbo for three months until she could afford a second blood test. As it turned out, she didn’t actually have HIV. Meanwhile, a patient named Mehrl Ellsworth was given a false cancer diagnosis.

Unlike the jury at Holmes’ trial, the jury at Balwani’s trial held him accountable for defrauding patients, not just investors.

Before the former COO’s sentencing hearing, Balwani’s lawyers filed 40 objections to the probation office’s pre-sentence investigation report, according to tweets from Law 360 reporter Dorothy Atkins, who was present at the hearing. Judge Davila, who also presided over Holmes’ trial, said that only four of those objections were substantive.

“Usually sentencing hearings are morbid regardless of the crime — like watching a car crash where you watch families and lives being destroyed in real time,” Atkins tweeted from the court room. “This one feels more like an accounting class.”

It would certainly not be unprecedented if Balwani decides to appeal this ruling. After Holmes’ own sentencing, the former Theranos CEO told a California federal judge that she would appeal her conviction. She then asked to stay out of custody while her appeal is under consideration, also citing that she is currently pregnant with her second child. As it stands, Holmes’ surrender date is April 27, while Balwani will report to prison on March 15.

Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to 11 years in prison for Theranos fraud

What’s left to learn from Theranos? Have friends.

Theranos exec Sunny Balwani sentenced to 13 years in prison for defrauding patients and investors by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

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Ego-ish and how tech’s main characters are all a bit different

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question, and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha chatted with Alex about ego, how recent news from Sam Bankman-Fried and Elizabeth Holmes gives us a window into how it works, and impacts on the tech and venture landscape.

We talked about:

  • What Holmes and Bankman-Fried have in common, from centralized ownership to a cult of personality
  • The differences between the two entrepreneurs, and why their stories tend to blur together
  • How Adam Neumann, Elon Musk and others fit into the conversation
  • Learning lessons from startups from a chaotic, and main-character-driven year

We have a lot of really fun stuff coming up in the next week or two. Thanks for sticking with Equity in 2022, and we cannot wait for 2023.

Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, a show that details how our stories come together and more!

Ego-ish and how tech’s main characters are all a bit different by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch

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Holmes’ sentencing sends a clear message that the startup ecosystem must be built on good faith

Let’s start with the supposition that the venture-founder compact is built almost entirely on trust, especially early on. Sure, due diligence matters in the investment process, but lying about your capabilities can undercut the founder-investor relationship — and in extreme cases, to the detriment of the larger, global startup market.

In the wake of Elizabeth Holmes’ sentencing on Friday for defrauding investors, I’ve seen people argue that she was only guilty of messing with the wrong people — the wealthy. The implication here is that Holmes’ rich investors deserved to lose their money. I would argue what she did helped undermine the entire venture compact, and that’s why she’s going to jail.

As TechCrunch’s Amanda Silberling wrote on Friday about the company:

Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 after dropping out of Stanford. She pitched investors and partners on technology that would revolutionize the healthcare system — instead of drawing blood intravenously and waiting days for test results, her technology would prick a tiny bit of blood and instantly conduct dozens of tests on it. Soon she was the CEO of a company with a $10 billion valuation, but it turned out that the technology didn’t work.

What Holmes did was build a company by convincing investors that she could create something she knew to be a lie.

The tech startup ecosystem exists in part because investors with capital to spare are willing to risk some of that money on a founder with an idea.

These investors can be fabulously wealthy individuals. They can be athletes like Stephen Curry or Serena Williams, or entertainers like Kevin Hart or Ashton Kutcher. But they could also be larger entities like venture capital firms, investment funds or pension funds investing on behalf of people who aren’t fabulously wealthy.

Holmes’ sentencing sends a clear message that the startup ecosystem must be built on good faith by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch

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Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to 11 years in prison for Theranos fraud

Ten months after she was found guilty of fraud, the former youngest self-made female billionaire Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to 11.25 years in prison, plus three years of supervised release. At her trial, she was found guilty on four of 11 counts related to defrauding investors, but she was not found guilty of defrauding patients.

The former founder and CEO of Theranos, Holmes could have faced up to 20 years in prison for each of the four counts. By comparison, former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison for securities fraud, but was released after a bit more than four years.

At the courthouse in San Jose, both sides of United States vs. Elizabeth Holmes presented their cases regarding whether Judge Edward Davila can consider Holmes’ “reckless disregard” of patients in sentencing. Davila rejected that proposal, since at the original trial, Holmes was only found guilty of defrauding investors.

Regardless, it took over four hours before Holmes’ sentence was decided. Alex Schultz, father of whistleblower Tyler Schultz, spoke to the court, recounting how his son slept with a knife under his pillow when he suspected he was being followed by Theranos’ private investigators.

Then, Holmes herself spoke. “I regret my failings with every cell of my body,” she said. That was when Judge Davila delivered his decision.

Holmes is expected to report to prison in April. Currently, she is pregnant with her second child.

Fraud at Theranos

Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 after dropping out of Stanford. She pitched investors and partners on technology that would revolutionize the healthcare system — instead of drawing blood intravenously and waiting days for test results, her technology would prick a tiny bit of blood and instantly conduct dozens of tests on it. Soon she was the CEO of a company with a $10 billion valuation, but it turned out that the technology didn’t work.

Theranos has been defunct since 2018, but Holmes’ criminal trial only began last fall after delays due to the pandemic and the birth of her first child. According to a letter from Holmes’ husband in a public court filing, she is now pregnant with a second child. The filing includes 282 pages of other letters from Holmes’ friends, family and business associates, ranging from childhood photos and drawings to notes from high-profile supporters like Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and venture capitalist Tim Draper.

“Although there is substantial popular outcry against Theranos and Elizabeth, the attitude in much of the venture world is very different,” Draper wrote. “Venture-backed startup companies often announce and deliver products to the market before they are ready.”

The former CEO’s sentencing was further delayed because her lawyers tried to request a new trial, arguing that new evidence had come to light after former Theranos lab director Adam Rosendorff visited Holmes at home in an attempt to find closure.

Rosendorff, who worked at Theranos between 2013 and 2014, testified for six days last year during Holmes’ four-month trial. With his highly technical knowledge of the inner workings of Theranos’ labs, Rosendorff’s testimony was key to the trial. In court, he said that Holmes knew that Theranos’ technology produced inaccurate blood test results, yet she pushed for it to be used on patients anyway. After repeatedly raising his concerns about the faulty technology, he ultimately quit Theranos.

Holmes’ lawyers alleged that when Rosendorff visited her home this summer, he expressed guilt that he made Theranos seem worse than it was in court. But Judge Edward Davila did not find merit to these allegations. Rosendorff affirmed once again that last year’s testimony was accurate. The former lab director clarified that he felt sorry for Holmes’ child, who will grow up without a mother if she is sent to prison, but not for Holmes herself.

Holmes’ former boyfriend and Theranos COO, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani awaits sentencing. He was convicted on 12 out of 12 counts in his own trial, where the jury found him guilty of defrauding both patients and investors.

What’s left to learn from Theranos? Have friends.

Elizabeth Holmes convicted of 4 of 11 fraud counts in Theranos trial

Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to 11 years in prison for Theranos fraud by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

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Elizabeth Holmes is denied new trial, will be sentenced on Nov. 18

The disgraced founder of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes will be sentenced on November 18 after she was found guilty on four counts of defrauding investors in January. Once the youngest self-made female billionaire, Holmes could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the four counts of fraud.

Holmes had delayed sentencing by trying to request a new trial, arguing that new evidence had come to light. In August, former Theranos lab director Adam Rosendorff visited Holmes at her home in an attempt to find closure.

Rosendorff, who worked at Theranos between 2013 and 2014, testified for six days last year during Holmes’ four month trial. With his highly technical knowledge of the inner workings of Theranos’ labs, Rosendorff’s testimony was key to the trial. In court, he said that Holmes knew that Theranos’ technology produced inaccurate blood test results, yet she pushed for it to be used on patients anyway. After repeatedly raising his concerns about the faulty technology, he ultimately quit Theranos.

Holmes’ lawyers alleged that when Rosendorff visited her home this summer, he expressed guilt that he made Theranos seem worse than it was in court. But Judge Edward Davila did not find merit to these allegations. Rosendorff affirmed once again that last year’s testimony was accurate. The former lab director clarified that he felt sorry for Holmes’ child, who will grow up without a mother if she is sent to prison, but not for Holmes herself.

After a long-delayed trial, Holmes’ legal team is expected to file an appeal after next week’s sentencing, dragging out the legal process further. Holmes’ former boyfriend and Theranos COO, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani is expected to be sentenced on December 7. While Holmes was found guilty on four counts of fraud relating to investors, Balwani was found guilty on all 12 counts of defrauding and conspiring to defraud both patients and investors.

Elizabeth Holmes convicted of 4 of 11 fraud counts in Theranos trial

Former Theranos exec Sunny Balwani is found guilty of fraud

Elizabeth Holmes is denied new trial, will be sentenced on Nov. 18 by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

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Will Mars be ruled by Elon Musks’ ever-growing brood? And other TC news

This week on The TechCrunch Podcast I give you a rundown of the biggest stories in tech, and sit down with TC writers for a deep dive into a few of them. In this episode, I talk with Zack Whittaker about Apple’s latest security feature, Lockdown Mode and Amanda Silberling about the end of former Theranos exec Sunny Balwani’s trial.

Please note, we recorded this episode before news of Elon’s attempt to terminate his deal to acquire Twitter broke. Read Taylor Hatmaker’s coverage here to stay up to date.

Articles from the episode:

Other news from the week:

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Another wild week for Elon Musk

Hello, friends! Welcome back to Week in Review, where we quickly recap the most read stories on TechCrunch from the last 7 days. The goal: If you had a busy week, you should be able to skim WiR and still have a pretty good sense of what happened in tech. Want it in your inbox? Sign up here.

Many, many thanks to Henry Pickavet for putting WiR together while I took a couple weeks off. I wish I could say it was a wonderfully relaxing few weeks off, but I was traveling with a back injury and my 3-year-old … so, yeah, nah. I had a great time, but I’m glad to be home and putting words on the internet again!

The most read story this week, by far, was news that Elon Musk quietly had twins with “one of his top executives” last year. Musk responded to the myriad takes with a tweet: “Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.”

—greg

other stuff:

An illustration of a white hand on a blue rounded-corner square on a background with iPhones.

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

Elon Musk says he’s killing the Twitter deal: Elon Musk’s legal team announced late Friday that they intend to halt the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, citing “false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the Merger Agreement.” Twitter chairman Bret Taylor immediately responded with a statement that “the Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement.” This is gonna get messy.

Glance is headed for the U.S.: Glance is a company that puts tailored content/games (and, of course, ads) on an Android phone’s lock screen. After finding its way onto around 400 million smartphones in Asia over the last few years, the company is prepping for a U.S. launch “within two months,” according to a scoop from our own Manish Singh.

A bigger, tougher Apple Watch: Rumors of new Apple devices are always in the air … but when the very-often-correct Mark Gurman says something is coming, we tend to pay attention. Gurman says that Apple is building a beefed out version of its Apple Watch for “extreme sports athletes” — one with a bigger display for easier reading mid-workout and a tougher design so you’ll worry less about dings and dents.

Apple’s “Lockdown” Mode: It’s a generalization for sure, but the more features your phone has, the more potential attack vectors there are for hackers to target. With that in mind, Apple this week announced “Lockdown Mode,” a setting coming to iOS/iPadOS/macOS that lets you instantly disable a number of features — think things like what files it’ll open, what websites are allowed to do, who can contact you, etc. It’s meant primarily for those who “may be at risk of highly targeted cyberattacks,” an Apple press release said, but will be available to all later this year.

Vauld hits pause: Cryptocurrency prices saw massive crashes throughout May and June, and crypto lending platform/exchange Vauld said early this week that it is suspending “all withdrawals, trading and deposits” as it explores “potential restructuring options.” In a series of tweets, Vauld co-founder Darshan Bathija noted that customers had withdrawn over $197 million from the platform in the last few weeks alone.

Sunny Balwani found guilty: After a 3-month trial, former Theranos COO Sunny Balwani was found guilty on 12 criminal charges this week. For those who haven’t been following every beat of the Theranos disaster, Amanda put together an excellent, succinct overview of the case thus far — and the impact it has had on the startup ecosystem already.

Amanda interviews MKBHD: I may be half a decade older than him, but I want to be Marques Brownlee when I grow up. Otherwise known as MKBHD, he’s a wildly popular tech YouTuber, increasingly popular TikToker, professional ultimate Frisbee player (!), and an all-around-cool human. Amanda caught up with Marques at VidCon, where they talked about everything from evolving the long-form content he’s known for with the pacing of TikTok in mind, his thoughts on the metaverse and the tech he thinks isn’t getting enough attention.

audio stuff:

Podcasts! You like them, we’ve got them.

Over the last few days, Darrell chatted with Amanda about her trip to VidCon on The TechCrunch Podcast, Jacquie and Anita talked about crypto’s “savior” on Chain Reaction, and the Found podcast team talked with WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg about his 19 years leading the company.

You can find all these and much, much more in our weekly podcast roundup.

added stuff:

Want even more TechCrunch? Head on over to the aptly named TechCrunch+, where we get to go a bit deeper on the topics our subscribers tell us they care about. Some of the good stuff from this week includes:

The thing that makes your pitch deck useless: “You’ve brushed off your Keynote skills, you’re giddy that you’re finally going to be able to start paying yourself a living wage, and you are excited to start pitching your startup’s next round of funding to your investors,” writes Haje (TC’s resident Pitch Deck expert). “It’s heady times, for sure, but hit the other pedal there for a moment, friend — you may be forgetting something.”

Meanwhile…: That last post covered the slide Haje says every pitch deck needs; this one’s all about the slide he thinks is useless.

So are we in a startup recession or what?: Alex Wilhelm spends more time thinking about the nitty-gritty of startup economics than just about anyone I know, so when he opens a post with something like “I don’t know what is going on in the startup market and it’s a bit of a pain in the ass,” I read on.

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Daily Crunch: Musk wants out of his $44B Twitter deal

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT (except today because of the breaking Musk news!), subscribe here.

Jet-lagged and post-COVID-fatigued, Haje is back, joining Christine to bring you fine morsels of tech news in this very newsletter. Also, hearsay (and the calendar) suggests that it might be Friday. If that almost unverifiable rumor is, in fact, true, then have a delightful weekend. — Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top … 4

  • Friday Musk news dump: We had the newsletter all set to go, but as is wont to happen late on a Friday, there is some breaking news. And once again, it’s about Elon Musk. The CEO of many companies, and the apparent father to a new set of twins with an executive of one of those companies, decided to terminate his deal to buy Twitter. But Twitter’s not really having it and said as much in its single-paragraph, two-sentence response to the news. This is a developing story so keep your eyes right here for the latest.
  • Check, please: This is such a well-done story by Kyle that goes into detail about the fall of Butler Hospitality, which raised $50 million last year. Then it ran into several challenges that ended with the company, which essentially leased hotel kitchen space to others to operate as a ghost kitchen, laying off hundreds of people and not being able to fulfill its commitments.
  • Well, isn’t that a jolt to the senses: There may be many reasons why someone doesn’t invest in an electric car, but Tim’s story today suggests that a big one is not enough trust in the public charging infrastructure. It’s a legitimate fear, really, because that 600-mile trip is going to end badly if there isn’t a reliable and quick place to plug in along the way.
  • The electric vehicle charging hunt is afoot: Where Tim’s story was talking about electric vehicle chargers in general, another top story for today was Jaclyn’s, who wrote that the White House wants to expand charging capabilities and that Elon Musk is on the case, working to expand Tesla’s Supercharger network.

Startups and VC

Coalition, a San Francisco–based startup that combines cyber insurance and proactive cybersecurity tools, is preparing to expand outside of the U.S. for the first time following a mega $250 million Series F round that takes its valuation to a whopping $5 billion, Carly reports.

We also particularly enjoyed the interview Connie did with Sequoia Capital’s Jess Lee, regarding its new Arc program, and whether or not it’s a competitor to Y Combinator. “We’re really looking for founders who want to build long-term, transformational, category-defining companies … that carve out a new market. There is no one we’d rule out, but it’s more about the scale of ambition,” Lee shares.

Our money doesn’t jiggle jiggle, it folds:

The art of the pivot: Work closely with investors to improve your odds

Image of a red line threading between red obstacles; pivot

Image Credits: MirageC (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

For her latest TC+ post, we asked veteran investor Marjorie Radlo-Zandi to share her playbook for helping first-time founders steer their companies through a pivot.

Changing direction is a massive undertaking, but she breaks the process down into several steps that will help entrepreneurs get buy-in from investors (and employees).

“There’s no shame in pivoting,” writes Radlo-Zandi. “On the contrary, it’s a sign of strength.”

The art of the pivot: Work closely with investors to improve your odds

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Big Tech Inc.

We first focus on a story Taylor put together this afternoon about a Congress investigation into period tracking apps and the data associated. With Roe repealed, there is concern that this kind of data may pose a threat to those seeking reproductive care.

We can sum up today’s — well, technically late yesterday’s — big tech news in three words: Twitter, cars, yacht. Not to be confused with gym, tan, laundry.

Amanda reported on Twitter targeting its talent acquisition team by laying off 30% of that workforce. The company declined to go into specifics, so we don’t know exactly how many people that is, but it’s safe to say jobs at Twitter will not be filled for a while. If that wasn’t already enough Twitter trouble, Taylor follows up on a report that suggests Elon Musk is not interested in buying the company anymore.

But wait, there’s more:

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Daily Crunch: China criticizes India for ‘frequent investigations’ of local Chinese firms

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here.

Greetings on this fine Thursday. We are still reeling about Elon Musk and the twins. Connie has more on that. Amanda also covered the verdict in the case against Theranos’ Sunny Balwani. Meanwhile, if you are a startup founder, don’t forget to apply to be a part of the Startup Battlefield 200. The submission date is July 31. See you tomorrow!  — Christine

Six reasons to apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt

The TechCrunch Top 3

  • More to the story: Manish is back with more information on the Vivo saga. Now China’s embassy in India is saying that all of these investigations that India is doing into Chinese firms are bad for business. Perhaps, or maybe it is India being cautious.
  • Level up your avatar: Reddit is getting deeper into the NFT game by launching a new avatar marketplace, Ivan writes. The advantages? You don’t need a crypto wallet to buy one, and you can use it on or off Reddit.
  • Check out that valuation: YuLife pumped up its valuation to $800 million after securing $120 million in new funding, Ingrid reports. The life insurance company, which has a wellness and gamification focus, was previously valued at $70 million. Talk about your good business models!

Startups and VC

Over in this section, Mary Ann has yet another update on the saga she has been following this year, namely Better.com. In today’s episode, she writes about all of the new hires who have joined the digital mortgage lender over the past few months, one that even called it a “rebirth.”

How many apps do you use at your company? If it is the average, that’s about 110, according to statistics. Happeo raised $26 million to create an intranet portal for your company to connect employees with all of the apps, Kyle writes. That should make you happy, er Happeo.

Here’s what else we have for you:

  • Invoice this: Mary Ann also wrote about invoice software startup Adaptive’s $6.5 million raise, led by Andreessen Horowitz, which ironically included three companies that all compete with one another.
  • Another one gets the horn: Tebra, an operating system for independent healthcare providers, is now a unicorn after taking in over $72 million in equity and debt, Catherine writes. 
  • Tebra, Traba; Traba, Tebra: If the Great Resignation taught us anything, it’s that people are looking for flexible options, even entry-level ones. Kyle reports on Traba’s $20 million raise to match contractors with warehouse and fulfillment jobs.
  • No venture capital apocalypse yet: I enjoyed Alex’s look at how the U.S. was faring during the global venture capital market slowdown.
  • From beds to insurance: Jordan’s report on insurance startup Ranger’s $5.25 million round answers the question of what former Casper CEO Philip Krim has been doing since he left the bed company.
  • Super growth from superplants: Please enjoy my story on Fyto, a hardware and software company helping farmers grow aquatic plants using robotic automation.
  • Who’s calling who a “dinosaur”?: Mike reports that Headline VC may have been in the venture capital game since 1999, but armed with $950 million in new commitments across three funds, it is still proving it’s more like the Energizer Bunny than a fossil.

Roe reversal weighs heavily on emerging tech cities in red states

Image Credits: venimo / Getty Images

On June 24, Khadijah Robinson planned to offer a woman a job. As founder of the Atlanta-based tech startup Nile, she spent 3 years scaling the platform, which connects consumers to Black online businesses. That Friday, she was thrilled to finally find someone willing to relocate from California to Georgia to help grow the company.

But by early afternoon, the offer was on hold: The U.S. Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade just a few hours before, and that worried Robinson. “As a founder and CEO, I now have to think long and hard about asking women to relocate to a state that will likely legislate against them very soon,” she tweeted. “I’m so tired.”

Roe reversal weighs heavily on emerging tech cities in red states

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Big Tech Inc.

In today’s Big Tech news, Meta took a new step in moving away from Facebook logins as its metaverse ID system, Lucas reports. One of the advantages is not needing Facebook credentials to play games and to use the Quest software. Speaking of Quest, Amanda gives you a look at Meta’s next VR headset. Meanwhile, Natasha provides an update on Ireland’s Data Protection Commission drafting a decision related to Meta’s data transfer between the U.K. and the U.S.

Aisha’s story about Twitter starting the testing of “CoTweets,” which will enable users to co-author tweets, has me thinking about the hijinks Haje and I could get into.

As you can tell, we like to follow a good saga here at TechCrunch, and Annie delivers another one, providing us with an update on Flutterwave. The company is now denying the claims made against it for money laundering and fraud.

More from us:

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Former Theranos exec Sunny Balwani is found guilty of fraud

Former Theranos COO and ex-boyfriend of disgraced founder Elizabeth Holmes, Sunny Balwani has been found guilty on all 12 criminal charges after a three-month trial.

At her own high-profile trial this winter, Holmes was found guilty of defrauding investors and conspiring to defraud investors on four of 11 counts, though she was not found guilty of defrauding patients. This jury, however, found Sunny Balwani guilty of defrauding both investors and patients, as well as conspiring to defraud them.

As anyone who has watched the fictionalized Hulu series “The Dropout” knows, Theranos aspired to conduct dozens of tests on a single drop of blood, which could have revolutionized the healthcare industry. But despite reaching a $10 billion valuation and spending over a decade in development, Theranos’ technology never actually worked, and in the most egregious cases, patients were presented with dangerously false medical results. In one case, a mother with a history of miscarriages was wrongly informed that she would have another unsuccessful pregnancy. Another patient, Erin Tompkins, used Theranos for its low costs, got flagged as HIV-positive, and then lived in limbo for three months until she could afford a second blood test. She didn’t actually have HIV.

Now, Balwani will be held accountable for what happened to Tompkins, as well as a patient Mehrl Ellsworth, who received a false cancer diagnosis.

Holmes and Balwani were supposed to be tried for fraud together, but the former CEO filed for a separate trial, stating that Balwani — who is 20 years her senior — had emotionally and sexually abused her. Though the court is not ruling on those allegations, the judge granted the request.

Throughout the trial, Balwani’s lawyers attempted to make the case that even though he was an investor and executive at Theranos, he was not involved in key decision-making. But that’s a difficult argument to make to a jury that saw a text from Balwani to Holmes that read, “I am responsible for everything at Theranos.”

In her own trial, Holmes’ defense tried to pin the company’s colossal failure on Balwani. She took the stand herself — a rarity in one’s own criminal fraud trial — to detail their relationship. Holmes described Balwani as having so much control over both her and her company that he micromanaged her daily schedule, including how she dressed and what she ate.

Balwani’s trial featured the same evidence that indicted Holmes. The prosecution focussed on a key piece of evidence relating to Theranos’ relationship with Walgreens. The biotech startup’s faulty technology made its way into 41 Walgreens stores, but unbeknownst to the pharmacy giant, most of the tests were conducted on third-party equipment. Theranos’ own machines couldn’t produce accurate test results, so a lot of patients had blood drawn not with a finger prick but intravenously. So, Walgreens basically spent hundreds of millions of dollars redesigning stores for Theranos’ “wellness centers,” only for the startup to use the same old tech.

Despite Balwani’s lawyers’ claims to the contrary, a Walgreens executive testified that he worked closely with Balwani on the deal. The prosecution also displayed evidence of a text from Balwani to Holmes stating that he deliberately didn’t tell Walgreens that they were using different machines.

Holmes’ jury took seven days to deliberate, but Balwani’s jury came to a decision on the fifth day of deliberation. Both former Theranos executives await sentencing.

This story is developing…

What’s left to learn from Theranos? Have friends.

Elizabeth Holmes convicted of 4 of 11 fraud counts in Theranos trial