Disgraced former Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes asked a judge to sentence her to a maximum of 18 months in prison, but preferably home confinement, after she was found guilty earlier this year on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud over her blood testing company.
Holmes was hailed as a Silicon Valley whiz kid when she dropped out of Stanford as a teenager to start Theranos.
The company claimed its proprietary blood testing technology could perform hundreds of tests using only a single drop, and investors included Rupert Murdoch and Henry Kissinger. Holmes made the covers of prominent magazines, including Forbes, and even scored a deal to have Theranos’ testing sites at Walgreens, until the company was exposed as a fraud in a series from the Wall Street Journal.
Both Holmes and Balwani were charged in 2018, but were tried separately. During her three-month-long trial last year, Holmes’ lawyers she was not trying to defraud patients and investors, but made mistakes as a leader.
Notably, she was only found guilty on counts relating to defrauding investors, and was found not guilty on counts relating to patients and doctors, and the jury deadlocked on other counts relating to specific wire transfers.
Balwani and Holmes began a relationship before he joined Theranos, working as its president and COO, and Holmes has claimed he abused her, which Balwani has denied. Balwani, 57, was found guilty on all 12 counts he was charged with, and also faces 20 years in prison.
This article was first published on forbes.com
Further Reading
Elizabeth Holmes Found Guilty On Wire Fraud Charges (Forbes)
Elizabeth Holmes’ Business Partner Sunny Balwani Found Guilty Of Fraud In Theranos Case (Forbes)