Holmes Sentenced To Prison, Fined $452M
The CEO of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, may soon go to prison. A court rejected her appeal to remain free while she tries to overturn her conviction. Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of a blood-testing scam that made her famous and rich for a short time.
A judge has told Elizabeth Holmes to pay $452 million to the people her crimes affected. She is being held responsible alongside her former partner Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, who is already in prison for more serious crimes.
Holmes tried to avoid prison, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied her request. This happened three weeks after she tried to delay her sentence. She was supposed to surrender to authorities on April 27, as ordered by Davila, who sentenced her in November.
Holmes, 39, will soon have a new date to leave her San Diego home and go to prison, as determined by Davila.
Holmes will be punished by being separated from her partner, Evans, and their two young kids, William and Invicta. She got pregnant with Invicta after being found guilty of fraud and conspiracy four times in January 2022.
Davila wants Holmes in a women's prison in Texas. Bureau of Prisons may choose a different place. Nobody knows yet.
Balwani, aged 57, has started serving a nearly 13-year jail term after being found guilty of 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy in July last year. He was sent to a prison in Southern California in October, after failing to get bail while he appealed his conviction.
Holmes was found guilty after a 46-day trial. The trial showed Silicon Valley's culture of greed and arrogance. The culture came about as technology became more pervasive in society and the economy in the last two decades.
Holmes testified in her own defense, making the trial captivating.
Holmes talked about starting Theranos when she was a teenager and dropping out of Stanford University in 2003. She said that Balwani emotionally and sexually abused her. Despite this, she believed that Theranos would change healthcare by using a technology that could scan for hundreds of diseases and issues with only a small amount of blood.
Holmes got people with lots of money, like Larry Ellison and Rupert Murdoch, to give her almost 1 billion dollars for her big plan. But then, the Wall Street Journal found out that what she was doing was really risky and the people who gave her all that money lost it all.
The judge, Davila, said Holmes and Balwani need to pay Murdoch $125 million. That's more than what other investors have to pay. Walgreens invested in Theranos and now gets $40 million in restitution. Safeway was also a partner but they backed out. Theranos now owes them $14.5 million.
Lawyers for Holmes and Balwani went to court to argue that their clients should pay minimal restitution. Prosecutors wanted restitution in the amount of $800 million. Holmes and Balwani claim to be nearly bankrupt after spending millions in legal fees. They were once valued at $4.5 billion and $500 million respectively.
Holmes' legal team has been battling her conviction due to alleged inaccuracies and misconduct during her trial. They have also argued that juror bias was so severe that she should be able to avoid prison while the appeal process unfolds. However, their request has been rejected by Davila and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
