Elizabeth Holmes was once referred to as “Steve Jobs” of biotechnology and could face long prison sentences.
The founder and CEO of ‘revolutionary’ blood-testing health technology company Theranos, has been found guilty on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud investors, but not patients.
Elizabeth Holmes, 37 years old, was found not guilty of the following four charges. “wire fraud against Theranos paying patients,”The jury in California was also deadlocked Monday on three additional charges. Although she was found partially guilty, she still faces up to 20 years imprisonment for each charge. However, some observers think she will not receive the maximum sentence.
Theranos once was a Silicon Valley marvel worth $9 billion that promised to change blood testing. Holmes founded it in 2003 after dropping out of Stanford University. The company’s board of directors at some point included former senators, future Defense Secretary James Mattis, as well as former Secretaries of State George Schultz and Henry Kissinger.
Praise as self-made millionaire “future Steve Jobs”Holmes, ex-CEO of Alibaba Jack Ma and Vice President Joe Biden would attend events together. Holmes claimed that her company can offer blood tests for more than 240 diseases with just a few drops of pin-pricks from the fingertip.
Hot Take on Holmes verdictQuestion : Why did jurors reach guilty verdicts for investors and/or money when they were deceitful, but not patients? Answer : It was harder to convince the jury that she wanted to “defraud” patients. pic.twitter.com/rGzk9wNNwq
— Jennifer Taub (@jentaub) January 4, 2022
The entire enterprise collapsed following a 2015 Wall Street Journal report by John Carreyrou, which exposed the fact that the company’s miracle technology did not actually work. Federal agencies launched an investigation that resulted in indictments of Holmes and Ramesh Balwani, former Theranos COO. Balwani will stand trial on his own next month.
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