Ellen Kreitzberg, Professor Emeritus of Law, from Santa Clara University, was recently quoted in the Magazine for the Royal Society of Chemistry regarding the sentencing of Balwani in the Theranos case: “The judge had to sentence Balwani under the federal sentencing guidelines just as he did Elizabeth Holmes. This gives the judge very little discretion in the sentence. The greatest downward departure is for acceptance of responsibility and remorse. Since both went to trial, it is hard to claim.
Nonetheless, this should not significantly impact medical diagnosis and technological innovations. New innovative companies can still tell investors that they hope or dream or are working on new products or tests. The crimes in Theranos began only once the company told investors that their machines could actually perform tests or analysis now- when they knew that was not true.”
