Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Friday, November 18, 2022, for scamming investors about the effectiveness of her blood-testing technology.
Theranos gained global recognition in 2013 following Holmes’s claims she had invented a ground-breaking blood-testing kit requiring a tiny amount of blood and performed accurate results within 20 minutes.
Reports say Holmes made $4.5 billion at the peak of Theranos and was featured in Forbes 400 in 2014 as a self-made billionaire.
A judge ordered her to repay $121 million to investors, which include media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
According to CNBC, she was convicted in January this year in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
Holmes, who broke down in tears, said she loved Theranos and that the company was her life. She apologised to investors and patients and said her feelings devastated her.
Court filings revealed that her legal team had asked for 18 months, but she was given 135 months, amounting to 11 years and three months in prison.
In 2015, The Wall Street Journal stated how the company struggled with its blood-testing technology.
Whistleblowers and witnesses, including the former chief operating officer, Ramesh Balwani, testified how she deceived patients, partners, investors employees of its technology’s effectiveness.
Theranos was valued at $9 billion by private investors and was shut down in 2018. Prosecutors sought a 15-year jail term for the pregnant 38-year-old.
Holmes had attempted to move for a new trial after an ex-employee appeared at her home in August to speak with her.
Billy Evans, Holmes’s partner, stated that the former employee had made remorseful remarks at her residence.
But the employee in question, Adam Rosendorff, told the court that his statements were to the pain of a child spending time without their mother.
Holmes gave birth to her first child in July 2022 and is expecting another.
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