Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the doomed medical startup Theranos, has been sentenced to 11¼ years in jail for defrauding investors and consumers with a faulty blood-testing device she touted as the next revolutionary health technology.
Three years of supervised release will follow Holmes’ time in jail, according to multiple reports.
After a four-hour hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila sent Holmes to prison Friday. The 11-year-old and three-month-old trial will be concluded with a three-year supervision period, and a $400-$100 fine for each count.
Back in January, Holmes was found guilty of four federal charges — three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud — but after 45 hours of deliberation, the jury could not reach a verdict on three other counts of wire fraud. Holmes was found not guilty by the jury, which consisted of eight men (and four women) and three counts of wire fraud conspiracy.
The historic events of Holmes’ scamming investors and consumers with a less-than-functional blood-testing instrument inspired limited series “The Dropout”Documentary as well. “The Inventor.”
Amanda Seyfried portrayed Holmes in Hulu’s “The Dropout,”The series premiered March 20, 2022. The portrayal of Theranos’ mind won her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited or Anthology Series.
The “Bad Blood”Podcast also covered the rise and fall Holmes and Theranos. Jennifer Lawrence quit a project in which she would have played her.
Holmes founded Theranos, a company that grew to $9 billion in value. She was able to scam investments from Rupert Murdoch, a media mogul, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Sunny Balwani, Sunny Balwani’s ex-CEO of the biotech company and her boyfriend, was convicted in July of fraud charges in San Jose federal court. His tasks at Theranos included overseeing the company’s relationship with Walgreens, monitoring labs and managing software, finances and investor relationships.
