Barclay Damon White Collar Practice Area co-chair Gabriel M. Nugent was recently quoted in online life sciences newspaper Stat's article "Investigators Say His Fingerprints Are All Over Financial Crimes at Theranos. Why Is He a Virtual Ghost?" Nugent gave his opinion about the possible legal defense that Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, the former president and chief operating officer of health tech company Theranos, may take in light of massive fraud allegations against him.
According to the article, the Securities and Exchange Commission claims that Balwani and his then-girlfriend Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, repeatedly lied about the capabilities of the company's blood-testing technology, "bilking investors out of more than $700 million."
While Theranos and Holmes have settled with the SEC, Balwani has not, with Nugent suggesting that he may attempt to push the crimes entirely on his ex-girlfriend.
"He's going to have to be able to point to someone, and it seems like it will be her," he said. "He could say that this is a person he invested his emotions in and trusted, and he put himself in a vulnerable place to be misled. On the other hand, it's harder for him to deny it with the 'I was not at the scene of the crime' defense."
Read Nugent's full comments in the article here.