The jury found the biotech founder guilty on four of the eleven charges, but were unable to agree on the points concerning fraud by some individual investors. She was acquitted of defrauding patients. The compensation amount will be decided at a later court hearing. Elizabeth Holmes appeared in a packed courtroom in San Jose, visibly pregnant with her second child, with her husband on one side and her mother on the other. More than 130 friends, family members, investors and former employees at Theranos sent letters to Judge Edward Davila before the hearing started, reports Reuters. In the letter, they asked him to spare her the harshest sentence, which is 20 years in prison. Among those who wrote letters is the senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker, who claimed that Holmes “can, despite the mistakes she has made, make the world a better place”. The prosecutor, for his part, got blood on his teeth when Holmes was convicted. He says, according to the agency, that the case is “among the biggest white-collar crimes Silicon Valley or any other district has seen”. The judgment states that Holmes defrauded investors for over 140 million dollars, around 1.24 billion Norwegian kroner. From adventure to disaster After a spectacular ups and downs for the company, Holmes was found guilty of fraud in January. The tiny device the company was built on was supposed to deliver cheaper and faster results than traditional laboratories, and perform a long series of tests with just a few drops of blood. At its peak, Theranos was worth a whopping NOK 90 billion. At the bottom, four years later, it was worth less than zero. Holmes promised that her machines could achieve things that had been impossible until now, for use in the home, in the pharmacy and even on the battlefield. Holmes and partner Billy Evans, after she was found guilty of fraud earlier this year. Photo: NICK OTTO / AFP The technology, however, did not deliver on the company’s promise. In all secrecy, they used ordinary machines belonging to other companies to analyze the patients’ tests. When this was discovered, even the adventure in Silicon Valley in disaster. The investors were angry, and Holmes was convicted of defrauding both them and the patients. Claims she herself thought she was telling the truth In court, the prosecution has asked for 15 years in prison and 804 million dollars in compensation. The amount is barely 200 million less than the billion Holmes collected from the investors to finance the company. She defended herself on the witness stand, and claimed that she believed the promise herself when she gave it. On Friday, Holmes was sentenced for defrauding his investors of a billion dollars. Photo: Jeff Chiu / AP Her lawyers have opposed the demand from the prosecution, and are arguing for a much milder sentence. They believe she should receive house arrest and community punishment – for a maximum of 18 months. In the trial, Holmes was accused of 11 matters, but convicted of four. She was acquitted on four counts, while the jury was unable to agree on three others. Her ex-boyfriend Ramesh Balwani, who had a leading role in the company and helped with the founding, was also convicted of fraud, reports the New York Times. The jury found Balwani guilty on 12 counts. Becoming the world’s youngest female dollar billionaire, Holmes started the company in 2003, when she was 19 years old. That time she was awarded the title of the world’s youngest female dollar billionaire. The ground-breaking technology that the company was believed to be using also meant that it was referred to by some as “the next Steve Jobs”. As a young entrepreneur, she was praised by both President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton. Amanda Seyfried played the now world-famous swindler Holmes in the HBO series The Dropout. Photo: Beth Dubber / HULU The story of Holmes has been told in both a book, a podcast and an HBO documentary in addition to the mini-series “The Dropout” with Amanda Seyfried in the lead role.
ttn-69
Technology entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes is imprisoned for 11 years – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
