Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, a once-valued Silicon Valley sensation that claimed to test for dozens of diseases from a single blood test, has been convicted of three counts of investor fraud and one count of conspiracy, resulting in an 11-year and three-month jail sentence. Holmes avoided jail time on Thursday after an appeal to delay her sentence was granted by a judge. The company’s technology was ultimately found to be flawed. Prosecutors accused Holmes of fleecing investors who backed the company to nearly $1bn (£803m), while putting patients’ health at risk. Her former partner, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who was also involved in the enterprise, is serving a nearly 13-year prison sentence after being convicted of 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy. Holmes became America’s youngest-ever self-made female billionaire in 2014, but after Theranos was exposed as bogus, the company quickly collapsed. Her rise and fall from billion-dollar founder to the brink of jail has inspired documentaries, podcasts, and an award-winning TV drama, The Dropout, starring Amanda Seyfried as Holmes.
