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Elizabeth Holmes: Theranos founder convicted of fraud

micromachine

Lieutenant General
Loyal
1650303139420.png


Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has been convicted of defrauding investors after a months-long landmark trial in California.

Prosecutors said Holmes knowingly lied about technology she said could detect diseases with a few drops of blood.

Jurors found Holmes guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud against investors and three charges of wire fraud.

She denied the charges, which carry a maximum prison term of 20 years each.

Holmes was not taken into custody, with no date confirmed yet for sentencing and a further hearing scheduled next week.

Journalists inside the courtroom said the 37-year-old, who gave birth to her first child last year, showed little emotion when the verdicts were read out, and hugged her husband, Billy Evans, and her parents before leaving the courtroom.

Holmes faced 11 charges in total and was found not guilty of four charges relating to defrauding the public.

The split verdict came after the judge said the jury, having deliberated for seven days, could deliver a partial verdict after being unable to reach consensus on another three counts.

The three wire fraud charges she was found guilty of are tied to specific investors in her failed company. Wire fraud is a relatively wide-ranging federal crime in the US, which involves using electronic communications, such as emails, to make false statements to get something from another person - usually money.

Theranos, at one point valued at $9bn (£6.5bn), was once the darling of biotech and Silicon Valley.

Holmes was able to raise more than $900m from billionaires such as media magnate Rupert Murdoch and tech mogul Larry Ellison.

The firm promised it would revolutionise the healthcare industry with a test that could detect conditions such as cancer and diabetes with only a few drops of blood.

But these claims began to unravel in 2015 after a Wall Street Journal investigation reported that its core blood-testing technology did not work.

For nearly four months at trial, the jury of eight men and four women were presented with two starkly different accounts of the former self-made billionaire, whose downfall shook Silicon Valley.

More at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59734254
 

eatshitndie

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
out on bail until september. will most likely serve less than 6.9 years out of a total of 20 years. already a billionaire 2nd time around after marrying billy evans, son of billionaire hotel tycoon. they live in a more than 69-acre estate on the peninsula in sillycon valley.
 

Leongsam

High Order Twit / Low SES subject
Admin
Asset

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to more than 11 years in jail for fraud​


12:00 pm today



NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 29: Elizabeth Holmes speaks on stage during the closing session of the Clinton Global Initiative 2015 on September 29, 2015 in New York City.   JP Yim/Getty Images/AFP

Photo: AFP / 2015 Getty Images

Elizabeth Holmes, a former Silicon Valley tech chief executive, has been sentenced to more than 11 years for fraud.

Her company Theranos was once valued at NZ$14.6bn. She falsely claimed the firm's technology could diagnose disease with just a few drops of blood.
A tearful Holmes, 38, told the court she felt "deep pain" for those who were misled by the start-up.

She was found guilty in January of duping investors and lying about the technology after a three-month trial.

Holmes is expected to appeal against the sentence, which was handed down on Friday (Pacific time) in a California court.

The sentencing has been widely viewed as a test of how seriously the justice system takes corporate fraud in the tech sector.

Once hailed as the "next Steve Jobs", Holmes was at one time said to be the world's youngest self-made billionaire.

She launched Theranos after dropping out of Stanford University at age 19, and its value rose sharply after the company claimed it could bring about a revolution in the diagnosing of disease.

But the technology Holmes touted did not work at all and - awash in lawsuits - the company was dissolved by 2018.

At Holmes' trial in San Jose, California, prosecutors said she knowingly misled doctors and patients about the Theranos flagship product - the Edison machine - which the company claimed could detect cancer, diabetes and other conditions using just a few drops of blood.

They also accused Holmes of vastly exaggerating the firm's performance to its financial backers.

Jurors ultimately found her guilty on four counts of fraud, with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. But they found her not guilty on four other charges, and failed to reach a verdict on three more.

Before Judge Edward Davila issued his sentence on Friday, Holmes read a speech to the court in which she tearfully apologised to investors and patients.

"I am devastated by my failings. I have felt deep pain for what people went through, because I failed them," she said.

"I regret my failings with every cell of my body," she continued.

According to reporters in court, the judge referred to Holmes as "brilliant", and told her: "Failure is normal. But failure by fraud is not OK."

He also questioned whether her scheme was influenced by "intoxication with fame". He described her case as a "cautionary tale" for other Silicon Valley executives.
She is required to surrender to begin serving her sentence on 27 April.

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 18: Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes (C) arrives at federal court with her partner Billy Evans (R) and mother Noel Holmes on November 18, 2022 in San Jose, California. Holmes appeared in federal court for sentencing after being convicted of four counts of fraud for allegedly engaging in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud investors in her company Theranos, which offered blood testing lab services.   Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes at federal court with her partner Billy Evans and mother Noel Holmes on November 18, 2022 in San Jose, California. Photo: AFP / JUSTIN SULLIVAN

Holmes and Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, her former business partner and lover, were charged in 2018 of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Balwani, who was tried separately, was found guilty of fraud this summer. He will be sentenced next month.

Prosecutors requested that she face 15 years in prison and pay some $800m in restitution to investors, arguing hers was "one of the most substantial white collar offences Silicon Valley or any other District has seen".

But Holmes' defence team - who claim she was well-intentioned and trying to help people - said she should spend 18 months under house arrest.
Over 130 friends, family, and former Thernaos employees wrote to the judge to appeal for clemency.

Among those pleading for a light sentence was 2020 presidential candidate and New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker, who wrote that Holmes could "despite mistakes, make the world a better place."

The group noted that Holmes is a young mother. She had a son in July 2021 and is currently pregnant with her second child.
 

syed putra

Alfrescian
Loyal
Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, her former business partner and lover, were charged in 2018 of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Balwani, who was tried separately, was found guilty of fraud this summer. He will be sentenced next month.
There is hope for malay alpha males like me in the west!
You need to be a great salesman yo get a good idea moving.
If yiu cannot sell, you need to get somebody who can.
You need to sell the products to customers, investors, financial institution.
In this case, looks like the product worked but the corporate side wasn't so good.
 

nightsafari

Alfrescian
Loyal
out on bail until september. will most likely serve less than 6.9 years out of a total of 20 years. already a billionaire 2nd time around after marrying billy evans, son of billionaire hotel tycoon. they live in a more than 69-acre estate on the peninsula in sillycon valley.
he couldn't do better? If I were him I'd fear for my assets.
 
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