Elizabeth Holmes, The founder of Theranos, Was Convicted Guilty Of Fraud And Conspiracy
Touchaheart Nigeria reports that on Monday, January 3, Elizabeth Anne Holmes, the founder and CEO of Theranos, a now-defunct health-tech company that rose in value after claiming to have revolutionized blood testing by developing testing methods that required surprisingly small amounts of blood, was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy.
Elizabeth Holmes was charged with 11 counts of fraud for statements made to investors and patients of her Silicon Valley blood-testing firm, Theranos, which was the subject of an HBO documentary and a planned Hulu miniseries starring Amanda Seyfried.
In her fraud trial, she was found guilty of four of the eleven charges she faced. The former Silicon Valley star was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Theranos investors as well as three counts of wire fraud.
The jury found her not guilty on four other counts, three of which included deceiving patients, and deadlocked on three more.
According to courtroom reporters, Holmes, 37, kept a serious posture as the judge announced the decision, then hugged her partner, parents, and two friends before exiting the chamber. Her lawyers are anticipated to file an appeal.
Each count carries a penalty of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, which she would likely serve concurrently.
This is coming after jurors told Judge Edward Davila on Monday, seven days after they began deliberations, that they were deadlocked on three of the 11 counts Holmes was facing for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Davila, who sits on the Northern District of California’s federal court, ordered the jurors to continue deliberating and advised them to “not hesitate to study your own beliefs and change your position if you feel convinced that it is wrong.” On the three unresolved accusations, Davila is expected to declare a mistrial.
In 2014, Holmes rose to fame as the founder and CEO of Theranos, a healthcare start-up that defrauded investors out of millions of dollars by falsely claiming that its technology could perform hundreds of medical tests with just a few drops of blood.
Journalist John Carreyrou of the Wall Street Journal claimed in 2015 that the gadget Holmes was selling, dubbed The Edison, did not truly work, and that the company was faking positive test results with outside technology and other deception. Holmes was then probed by federal authorities, who indicted her in 2018.
Holmes’ defense attorneys tried to portray her as naive during her trial, claiming she didn’t mean to swindle investors. According to ABC, Holmes’ attorney Kevin Downey said that even as the company’s finances sank, Holmes never cashed out any stock.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, claim that Holmes was well aware of her actions. According to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. Attorney John Bostic remarked in his closing remarks, “The guy on trial is 37 years old.” “That’s obviously old enough to understand what’s right and what’s wrong.”
In addition to being accused of deceiving patients and physicians about the efficacy of Theranos’ blood tests, Holmes was also accused of deceiving investors in 2015 by telling them that Theranos would make $1 billion in revenue when she knew the company would only make a few hundred thousand dollars that year.
