After a months-long process, the curtain falls for a former Silicon Valley icon. Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes, was found guilty of 4 of the 11 charges. They were about deceiving and defrauding investors.
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A later decision will be made about the punishment she will receive for this. In theory, she can get up to 80 years in prison, although in practice it will probably be less.
Elizabeth Holmes, now 37, was for many years the darling of Silicon Valley and the feminist movement in the US. This verdict not only knocks her off her pedestal, but also causes serious reputational damage to the Silicon Valley start-up myth.
Holmes had to appear in court in San Jose, California, on suspicion of tricking investors and patients for years with technology that didn’t exist. Her biotech company Theranos promised a revolution in blood testing. With a few drops of blood – and for a fraction of the normal price – it would suddenly become possible to conduct a whole range of medical tests for everything from diabetes to elevated cholesterol to cancer. Without actually having to take blood in the hospital, as is now necessary. A revolutionary technology that would drastically change the medical world, Holmes promised would-be investors for years.
Female Steve Jobs
With success, it seemed. Theranos eventually raised more than $700 million in investments and at its peak was valued at a value of $10 billion. Holmes himself (who always wore a black suit and turtleneck and thus cleverly marketed himself as the ‘female Steve Jobs’) became the youngest female self-made billionaire ever in Silicon Valley. Until the extremely valuable technology turned out to be non-existent, causing Theranos to be declared bankrupt in 2018 and Holmes eventually brought to trial on nine charges of fraud and two of conspiracy to commit fraud.
– Elizabeth Holmes, in better days, always wore a black suit and turtleneck sweater, successfully portraying herself as “the female Steve Jobs.” Photo: REUTERS
During her hotly-mediated trial, the prosecutor has spent the past few months trying to prove Holmes guilty of fraud, deception and conspiracy. She chose fraud over bankruptcy and chose to lie to investors and patients. She committed these crimes because she was desperate to save her company,” the prosecutor concluded his closing statement.
Abuse by former boyfriend
Holmes and her defense have always maintained their innocence and have spent the past few months trying to paint a picture of a hard-working entrepreneur who simply failed to make Theranos successful. That’s not a crime, the defense insisted. Holmes and her lawyers also tried to blame her then-boyfriend and right-hand man, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, for allegedly abusing Holmes.
The twelve-member jury – which has been sitting together since last week and eventually lifted the decision over Christmas due to a lack of consensus – took a long time to reach a verdict. Just before the jury withdrew for deliberation, at the jurors’ explicit request, a secretly recorded tape of a controversial December 2013 phone conference with Holmes was played again. ) Holmes bragged aloud about nonexistent partnership agreements with major drug manufacturers and potential contracts with the US military.
“I spoke about that because those potential investors weren’t interested in today or tomorrow, but what the company could do in five or ten years,” Holmes explained at the end of the trial for her statements at the time. But that couldn’t really convince the jury. There are also separate criminal cases against Holmes and Balwani.
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