A stunning fall has come for the woman once valued at $4.5 billion dollars by Forbes in 2014. Elizabeth Holmes has now been sentenced to 11 Years (135 Months).
Theranos, which Holmes oversaw as CEO and claimed would transform healthcare, was valued at $9 billion at its height, making Holmes the youngest self-made woman to reach billionaire status. Holmes misled investors by claiming that Theranos’ specialized blood analyzer could perform standard laboratory tests using only a few drops of blood from a finger stick, as opposed to much larger amounts obtained through regular venous draws.
Additionally, Holmes misled potential investors by claiming that the diagnostics company’s technology had received thorough validation from a number of top pharmaceutical firms and that the Department of Defense had sent its “Edison” testing gadget overseas to help treat injured soldiers. Moreover, Holmes touted Theranos as a profitable business.
In addition to the prison sentence, restitution of $803 million dollars was ordered to be paid to those who lost their investments. Corporate giants like Walgreens and Safeway, Venture Capital managers along with their secretaries, and a plethora of other victims will be in line to receive what is now legally obligated to them. She will additionally owe upwards of $1 million dollars in fines for the fraud she committed.
