Elizabeth Holmes founder of Theranos was sentenced to 11 years in prison

(Wikimedia Commons / Tali Mackay http://bit.ly/3TN0I2t)

Justice was served. A California court has sentenced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes to 11 years and three months in prison for conspiracy and fraud.

The court will establish later the amount of compensation that she will have to pay.

Holmes promised investors that her innovative device could quickly do more than 200 tests with just a drop of blood from a finger.

However, over the years of development, the company failed to provide either a prototype device that meets the stated requirements, or convincing scientific articles.

Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos in 2003, shortly after dropping out of her chemical engineering studies at Stanford University.

The startup had to develop a technology that could carry out full-fledged laboratory tests using a couple of drops of blood from a finger and allow a diagnosis to be made.

To implement this idea, Holmes managed to attract $ 900 million in investments, and the startup itself was estimated at $ 9 billion.

Theranos has developed several prototypes of these compact laboratories, including the Edison and miniLab machines.

But none of them could provide the result that Holmes promised in her interviews.

---

---

THE FRAUD
For more than 10 years, Theranos has not published a single scientific article about its technology, but this did not stop Holmes from attracting more and more money.

Theranos' only scientific work was published in 2017 and talked about the work of miniLab.

They said that the device only works with the use of a complete blood sample and is capable of doing only a few types of tests, and then only one at a time.

After a series of revealing articles in The Wall Street Journal and a book by a journalist about the startup, in 2018 Holmes announced the closure of the company.

People have complained that Theranos machines give false test results, including for HIV and tumor markers.

It also turned out that employees who noted the shortcomings of the work of prototypes were threatened and forced to go for forgery.

With time, many people sued the company, and Holmes was banned from holding leadership positions in public companies for 10 years.

In the summer of 2018, Holmes and her partner, Ramesh Balwani, were charged with fraud by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.

---

---

135 MONTHS
In January 2022, a jury found Elizabeth Holmes guilty on 4 of 11 counts of conspiracy and wire fraud, which she faces up to 20 years in prison.

At the same time, Holmes was found not guilty on charges related to deceiving patients.

Now, prosecutors have asked for 15 years in prison for Holmes and an $804 million fine.

Lawyers for the founder of Theranos provided the court with more than 100 letters in support of Holmes and insisted on 18 months of house arrest and community service.

They also wanted to have a new trial, but the court denied this request.

At the trial, Holmes said in tears that she was sorry for her mistakes and for "letting people down".

She apologized to investors and patients.

The judge listened to all parties, including the victims, and ruled that Elizabeth Holmes would have to spend 135 months in prison (11 years and 3 months), but she was given a reprieve until April 2023.

Holmes is pregnant, and mother of a 15-month-old son and lawyers intend to appeal the verdict.

In addition, the court refused to satisfy the $800 million fine requested by the prosecution and said it would consider $384 million in damages.

However, the judge considered it reasonable to charge Holmes with only $121 million lost by investors due to the company's shares.

The final decision on the amount of compensation will be made at a separate hearing at a later date.

Sources:

• NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-sentenced-to-11-years-in-prison-154242117742
• The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/18/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-trial-sentencing

---

---

Wanna save your links for later?
Try this new tool: https://bit.ly/3Wb8Mwe

---

---

#science #elizabethholmes #fraud #theranos #steemexclusive #news #nftmc