Much of the attention has focused on Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. But another character played a central role behind the scenes in the alleged fraud: Ms. Holmes’s boyfriend, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, according to more than three dozen former Theranos employees who interacted with Mr. Balwani extensively over a number of years. Mr. Balwani, who met Ms. Holmes when she was a teenager, jointly ran the company with her for seven years as president and chief operating officer and enforced a corporate culture of secrecy and fear until his departure in the spring of 2016, the former employees say.

Unlike Ms. Holmes and Theranos, who reached a settlement with the SEC to resolve the agency’s civil charges in March without admitting or denying wrongdoing, Mr. Balwani has denied separate charges the SEC filed against him in a parallel action and is fighting them in a California federal court. Ms. Holmes didn’t respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Mr. Balwani provided a statement from his lawyer, Jeffrey B. Coopersmith, saying Mr. Balwani accurately represented Theranos to investors to the best of his ability, worked hard to maximize shareholder value and took on significant risk investing in the company while never benefiting financially from his work.

‘In the 37-year-old Mr. Balwani, the 18-year-old Ms. Holmes saw what she wanted to become: a successful and wealthy entrepreneur. He became her mentor.’

When Mr. Balwani met Ms. Holmes, he already had made a fortune from his role in a technology startup. Born and raised in India, Mr. Balwani first came to the U.S. in 1986 for his undergraduate studies and later worked as a software engineer for Lotus and Microsoft. In 1999, he joined CommerceBid.com as its president and No. 2 executive; it was developing a software program for companies to pit their suppliers against one another for contracts in live online auctions. Business-to-business e-commerce had become hot, and in November 1999, the sector leader—the similarly named Commerce One—acquired the startup for $232 million in cash and stock, though it had just three clients testing its software.

Mr. Balwani received Commerce One shares that he sold for more than $40 million, based on a lawsuit he later filed against an adviser over tax-shelter advice. The deal’s timing couldn’t have been better for the startup’s executives. Within five months, the dot-com bubble had popped and the stock market had swooned. Commerce One eventually filed for bankruptcy.

Not long after cashing in, Mr. Balwani crossed paths with Ms. Holmes in Beijing. In the summer of 2002, both were enrolled in Stanford University’s Mandarin program, which featured several weeks of instruction in China. Ms. Holmes, a month away from starting her undergraduate studies at Stanford, struggled to make friends on the trip and got bullied by some of the other students, according to a description a friend of Ms. Holmes’s mother gave in a legal proceeding. Mr. Balwani, the lone adult among a group of college kids, stepped in and came to her aid, according to this account.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3981428&forum_id=2#36085490)

I can't believe people gave money to this freak.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3981428&forum_id=2#36085973)

16 years later all you've signed away your career and company to the SEC, the turd is on the run, and all you have left is the turtleneck on your back. Very sad

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3981428&forum_id=2#36086003)

Espessady your turtleneck

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3981428&forum_id=2#36087641)

https://www.wsj.com/video/reporting-on-theranos-and-elizabeth-holmes/22C3F84E-0985-4EEE-8B74-256CD6D489D7.html

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3981428&forum_id=2#36087496)

the unblinking stare is super creepy.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3981428&forum_id=2#36087516)