Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Given 11.25 Years in Prison for Scamming Investors

Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 and claimed that its technology would revolutionize the way blood testing is done. It claimed to be able to detect a wide variety of diseases using only a few drops of blood. By 2014, the company was valued at $9 billion.

Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced CEO of Theranos has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors.

The company claimed to have developed a method that would revolutionize blood testing, but the technology never worked.

The sentence was lighter than the 15 years requested by prosecutors but was stiffer than what her defense team has asked for. Holmes' lawyers were pushing for no more than 18 months in prison with additional home confinement and community service.

In January, Holmes was found guilty of four charges: conspiracy against Theranos investors, wire fraud against Theranos investors, and two additional counts of wire fraud.

US District Judge Edward Davila oversaw the monthslong trial and gave Holmes 14 days to appeal her conviction. He ordered her to surrender herself on April 27, 2023. That date will likely be after Holmes delivers her second baby. Holmes also has a one-year-old child.

The judge did not mention her pregnancy during sentencing and her lawyers did not bring it up, but at least one of the 130 letters from her friends and family asking for leniency did mention her pregnancy, including from her current partner, William Evans.

Holmes' lawyer Kevin Downey will request that she remain free on bail while the appeal is pending. He has declined further comment on the sentencing.

Theranos' rise was quick and Holmes found herself on the cover of business magazines and being compared to the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. That came to an end in 2015 after revelations that the machines were only able to perform a dozen tests and Theranos was utilizing other companies' equipment to test blood. That led to charges being filed against Holmes and Theranos CEO Ramesh Balwani in 2018. Theranos folded soon after.

Holmes' story has been the subject of an HBO documentary and a Hulu series that chronicles her rise and fall.

Some of Theranos' investors included Larry Ellison, Rupert Murdoch, and the Walton family. Prosecutors also asked for Holmes to pay $804 million in restitution, which would have covered most of the $1 billion that the company raised from investors. Judge Edward Davila said the court would set another date for a hearing on restitution.

Holmes' lawyers argue that the legal battles have left her broke and she is unlikely to be able to pay any restitution. They also note that she never sold any of her stock in Theranos.

A former employee of Theranos, Brad Arington, who was the company's former privacy officer, said that the sentencing gives some closure. “There is a sense that she is finally being held accountable,” Arington told the Wall Street Journal.” For many of us, there is some sense of closure because of that accountability.”

Arington also claimed that former Theranos employees have suffered professionally and personally as a result of Holmes' actions.