Blood test fraud: Eleven years in prison for ex-star entrepreneur Holmes

Status: 19.11.2022 00:33

She was considered a star in Silicon Valley, but the blood tests she touted as revolutionary didn’t work. Elizabeth Holmes had already been convicted of fraud in January. The sentence has now been set: eleven years in prison.

Elizabeth Holmes, once celebrated in the United States as a star young entrepreneur, has been sentenced to around eleven years in prison for fraud. The sentence now handed down by US District Judge Edward Davila is less than the 15-year sentence prosecutors are asking for, but far more harsh than their defense attorneys were seeking.

Holmes was found guilty by a grand jury in January of having robbed investors of hundreds of millions of dollars with her failed start-up when she was the CEO of Theranos. It was accused of falsely convincing investors that Theranos had developed a revolutionary blood testing device. The case made her a symbol of a culture of unabashed self-promotion in Silicon Valley.

Kissinger and Murdoch as supporters

Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 when he was just 19 years old. The company advertised a supposedly revolutionary technology for particularly fast, effective and inexpensive blood tests. The charismatic young entrepreneur was celebrated as a tech pioneer and won financially strong investors and prominent supporters such as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Holmes herself became a billionaire. Then Wall Street Journal reports revealed that the technology didn’t work at all. Holmes has always denied defrauding investors. She admitted mistakes, but claimed to have believed in the potential of her technology. She also blamed her ex-boyfriend and former business partner Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani for the scandal. He was also found guilty of fraud in July. His sentence is still pending.

Former tech shooting star: 11 years in prison for Elizabeth Holmes

Katharina Wilhelm, ARD Los Angeles, 11/19/2022 12:38 a.m

source site