Elizabeth Holmes, the previous CEO and founding father of Theranos, has been sentenced to simply over 11 years in jail for defrauding the traders of her blood testing startup. The sentence comes virtually a yr after Holmes was on 4 counts of fraud following a months-long trial.
Prosecutors had pushed for a 15-year sentence, whereas Holmes’ attorneys argued she ought to get not more than 18 months of home arrest. Her probation officer had 9 years, in accordance with The New York Instances.
All through the trial, Holmes’ legal professionals tried to painting the Theranos founder as a younger and inexperienced entrepreneur who hadn’t supposed to deceive traders or the general public. Throughout her testimony, Holmes blamed a lot of Theranos’ issues on others on the firm, together with her former accomplice Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani.
She additionally testified that Balwani was abusive throughout their romantic relationship, and that he had misled her about what was taking place in Theranos’ lab. Balwani, who as COO additionally oversaw day-to-day operations of the corporate’s lab, was on 12 counts of fraud in a separate trial earlier this yr. His sentencing is due in December.
Even at her sentencing, Holmes proved she nonetheless has influential allies to defend her. A number of Silicon Valley traders, together with early Theranos backer Tim Draper, wrote letters of assist urging the decide for a lighter sentence. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker in her assist, asking the decide for “a good and simply sentence.”
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