AP – Former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani found an escape hatch on Thursday from the scheduled start of his nearly 13-year prison sentence for a blood-testing hoax he engineered with his former boss and lover, Elizabeth Holmes.
Just hours before Balwani was supposed to surrender to authorities, his lawyer filed documents notifying United States (US) District Judge Edward Davila that he wouldn’t be doing so.
The notice cited a last-minute appeal of a recent Davila ruling rejecting Balwani’s request to remain free while trying to overturn his conviction on 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy.
Last Wednesday appeal of Davila’s March 9 ruling triggered an automatic stay of his prison reporting date, which had been set for 2pm on Thursday.
That’s because Balwani, 57, has been free on bail since a jury convicted him last July, triggering a clause that allows him to remain free on bail until the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals weighs in on Davila’s ruling issued last week, according to the notice filed by Balwani’s attorney, Jeffrey Coopersmith. It’s unclear how long it will be before the appeals court deals with the ruling.
If and when he is sent to prison, Balawani will service his time in a facility near a Southern California harbour, according to other documents filed on Wednesday by Coopersmith.
