Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to more than 11 years in prison
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison on Friday for fraud after misleading investors about the purported effectiveness of her company’s blood-testing technology. She was ordered to surrender on April 27.
Holmes is sentenced in January in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She cried as she spoke in court ahead of her sentencing on Friday.
“I love Theranos. It’s my life’s work,” said Holmes. “My team means the world to me. I’m devastated by my failures. I’m so sorry. I gave everything I had to build my company.”
Her defense team argued that she would face a maximum sentence of 18 months, according to court records. Instead, she was given 135 months, or 11 years and three months, behind bars.
The first Wall Street Journal break the story about how Theranos’ blood-testing technology struggled to live up to expectations in 2015. accusers and other witnesses have come forward to provide detailed accounts of how Holmes and the former executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani misled patients, partners, investors, and employees about the company’s progress and its technological capabilities.
Once valued at $9 billion by private investors, Theranos Turn off in 2018.
“Thank you for inviting me. Thank you for the courtesy and respect you have shown me,” she said Friday. “I feel deeply hurt for what people have gone through because I have let them down. I apologize to the investors, the patients.”
Prosecutors have asked for a 15-year sentence for the pregnant 38-year-old former billionaire and Silicon Valley celebrity. In July, Balwani, who had been romantically involved with Holmes many years earlier, guilty of 12 counts of criminal fraud. His sentence is set for next month.
U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila, who presided over Holmes’ trial, sentencing.
The first billionaire tried to switch to a new trial after a former employee showed up on her doorstep in August to talk to her. Holmes’ partner, Billy Evans, told the court that the former employee made regretful remarks at their shared residence.
But that employee, Adam Rosendorff, tell the court that his comment was caused by distress at the thought of a child spending time without their mother. The Theranos founder gave birth to her first child in July and is expecting another.
Holmes’ verdict comes as another young former tech billionaire, Sam Bankman-Fried, faces a difficult future in the wake of the case. sudden collapse of his crypto exchange FTX last week. Bankman-Fried has not been charged, but he is in legal jeopardy after it was revealed his company was unable to return depositors because some of the funds were used to fund depositors. risk fund, lose bet.