Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of blood-testing startup Theranos and a former CEO of Silicon Valley darling company, was found guilty on all counts in the fraud case. Prosecutors said she misled investors about how well their technology worked while secretly burning through millions to support her lavish lifestyle.
Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of fraud but acquitted on other charges. This is not the first time she has been in trouble with the law, and it’s likely that this won’t be her last.
Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO of Theranos, was found guilty on four counts of fraud but acquitted of four others. The jury had previously said that they were deadlocked on the remaining three counts.
As the judgments were announced, Holmes sat silently with her defense team, according to CBS San Francisco.
Her punishment will be decided by a court at a later date. For each count, Holmes may now face up to 20 years in jail.
Earlier Monday, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila summoned the jury to the courtroom where the protracted trial had been held to poll jurors on the three felony counts on which they said they were hopelessly divided.
Holmes, a once-famous entrepreneur, is accused of defrauding investors and patients by touting a faulty blood-testing gadget as a medical breakthrough.
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila ordered the eight men and four women back to the courtroom where Holmes’ trial was held after receiving a message from the jury on Monday afternoon. He pushed them to reconsider their viewpoints while following their orders to render a guilty judgment only if they were persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Allow yourself as much time as you need. There’s no need to rush “Davila reiterated his point.
On Monday, January 3, 2022, Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos Inc., appears in federal court in San Jose, California, United States. Getty Images/Bloomberg/David Paul Morris
The jury then resumed their deliberations, which had already lasted over 40 hours. They’ve written three letters to the court so far, but Monday’s was the first that openly discussed probable verdicts.
This also indicates that jurors have reached an agreement on verdicts on eight of the counts brought against Holmes. Nine of the 11 counts are fraud accusations, with two of them relating to a fraud conspiracy that occurred between 2010 and 2015. During this period, Holmes rose to prominence in Silicon Valley, with a net worth of $4.5 billion based on her claim that Theranos’ technology will transform health care.
“For all intents and purposes,” Keri Curtis Axel, a former federal prosecutor now working as a trial lawyer with the Los Angeles legal firm Waymaker, said, “the government only needs a guilty finding on one count.” She believes the hold-up on three charges means jurors are more likely to have found the defendant guilty on at least some of the other counts.
Robert Leach, a federal prosecutor who interrogated Holmes throughout her three-month trial when she took the witness stand to defend herself, backed the judge’s decision to remand the jury to their deliberations.
Outside the presence of the jury, Leach informed Davila, “Both parties have an interest in resolution on all points.”
According to David Ring, a lawyer who has been following the Holmes case carefully, Monday’s memo indicates that Holmes is likely to be convicted on certain charges. He anticipates a decision this week.
“It might be another day or two before the jury returns with a verdict on all charges or gives the court another letter saying they’re still stuck,” Ring said.
At Monday’s hearing, Holmes was present to study the jury’s note. She cast a peek across the courtroom at the jurors as they entered and exited, but none seemed to reciprocate her gaze. Holmes turned around and embraced her mother, who was seated behind her, after the jury had left. Her father then kissed her on the forehead via his mask, as required by court regulations.
Holmes started working on a device that she constantly claimed would be able to scan for hundreds of health conditions with only a few drops of blood obtained with a finger prick after founding Theranos in 2003 as a 19-year-old college dropout. For each test, a needle must be placed into a person’s vein to take a vial of blood, which must then be performed in huge labs.
With “mini-labs” at Walgreens and Safeway shops around the country, Holmes hoped she could give more humane, convenient, and affordable blood tests, utilizing a tiny testing gadget called “Edison” in honor of the renowned inventor.
The notion turned out to be really appealing. Theranos received almost $900 million from a large number of high-profile investors, including media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and software magnate Larry Ellison.
However, most individuals were unaware that Theranos’ blood-testing equipment consistently produced false findings, forcing the business to surreptitiously depend on traditional blood testing. Holmes allegedly lied about claimed arrangements that Theranos had made with significant pharma corporations like Pfizer and the US military, according to evidence produced during the trial.
A series of blockbuster stories in The Wall Street Journal in 2015, as well as a regulatory assessment of Theranos’ lab, revealed potentially deadly faults in the company’s technology, eventually contributing to the company’s demise.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which counts was Holmes convicted of?
A: Holmes was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder.
How many years did Elizabeth Holmes get?
A: Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of now defunct company Theranos was indicted for fraud charges in 2017. She got a prison sentence of 18 months and has since been released from jail.
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