Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos Founder, Receives Sentencing for Fraud Charges
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The Theranos founder appeared in court for sentencing on Friday, Nov. 18.
Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of failed blood-testing company Theranos, has been sentenced to 11.25 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to tweets made by NBC News reporter Scott Budman who was in the room at the time of sentencing.
She's been ordered to surrender herself on April 27, 2023.
Holmes, 38, appeared in court to receive her sentencing on Friday, Nov. 18, after being convicted in January on four counts of criminal fraud for deceiving investors to buy into her company, which falsely claimed to have created blood tests that could detect a variety of threatening illnesses with just a few drops of blood.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the decision was determined by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, who oversaw the months-long trial that began last year.
Before sentencing, Judge Edward Davila seemed to sympathize with the defendant, stating, "This case is troubling on so many levels. What went wrong? This is sad because Ms. Holmes is brilliant," later adding, “Failure is normal. But failure by fraud is not OK.”
Judge Davila continued: “We know by the texts with Mr. Balwani that there was conspiracy.”
And this conspiracy will serve as precedent, according to statements made by Judge Davila in the courtroom.
“What is the pathology of fraud? Is it the inability to accept responsibility? Perhaps that the cautionary tale to come from this case.”
Holmes had initially asked for a sentence of 18 months of home confinement followed by community service, while prosecutors requested 15 years of imprisonment.
The defense has submitted more than 140 letters from Holmes' family and friends, government officials, former Theranos employees, and more urging the court for leniency in the sentencing, especially as she is currently expecting a second child with partner Billy Evans.
Holmes was found not guilty on four other fraud charges relating to patients who had actually used Theranos blood tests. The jury could not reach a decision for three counts of deceiving investors, which the judge declared would result in a mistrial.
Holmes, a dropout from Stanford University, started Theranos in 2003 when she was only 19 years old. According to the New York Times, she would go on to raise over $945 million from investors, including Safeway and Walgreens, valuing the company at $9 billion over claims about her company's technology that was never actually proven to work as promised.
Her business partner and former lover, Sunny Balwani, was found guilty on all 12 counts against him, with his sentencing to take place in December.
Hulu's limited series The Dropout is a fictionalized account based on the actual events of the scandal that led to Theranos' downfall. It also gives a glimpse into the complicated relationship between Holmes and Balwani. Amanda Seyfried stars in the 8-episode series, for which she won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at this year's Emmy awards.
The reporter who first broke the story, John Carreyrou, also follows the scandal in his 2018 book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, which is currently in the works to be developed into a movie by Apple Original Films.
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