Elizabeth Holmes, the controversial Silicon Valley entrepreneur, was sentenced this Friday to 000 years in prison by a California judge, in the United States.
Last January a jury found her guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one of conspiracy to defraud investors with his company Theranos.
Theranos was valued at some point at $9, millions of dollars, with the false promise of having developed an innovative machine that could carry out any type of blood analysis in a matter of hours and with just a few drops of sample.
Holmes, from 31 years appeared crying osa
His conviction is seen as a test of how seriously the US justice system deals with corporate fraud in the technology sector.
During his heyday, Holmes She was described as the “next Steve Jobs”.
Her lawyers plan to appeal the sentence handed down this Friday.
His way of behaving and the support he received gave him credibility.Blood tests
Theranos, founded by Holmes in 2018 When I had 19 years ago, it attracted the interest of investors because of the great potential offered by blood analysis machines and made its founder a billionaire at 30 years.
Theranos tests cost a quarter or even less than tests traditional, which led to American drugstore chain Walgreens – one of the largest in the country – to partner with Holmes’s company.
The Wall Street Journal published at the end of 2015 a series of research articles in which he questioned the credibility of Theranos’ tests and accused the company, among other things, of diluting blood samples obtained from patients to increase their volume.
In addition, it was confirmed that Theranos sent the diluted tests to traditional laboratories and said that the results had been obtained with their machines.
These accusations led the US Department of Justice to file charges against Holmes and against the former president and former counselor of operations of the company, Ramseh “Sunny” Balwani (Holmes’ former sentimental partner), whom he accused of having deceived investors, doctors and patients.
Theranos company dissolved saw in September 2015.
Holmes was found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud.
The trial
During the trial in San Jose, California, prosecutors said that Elizabeth Holmes had intentionally misinformed doctors and patients about the “machine Edison”, Theranos’ star invention.
Holmes was also accused of exaggerating the company’s financial performance in front of investors.
The jury ultimately found her guilty of four counts of fraud, with a maximum sentence of 30 years.
But they found her guilty on four more counts, and failed to reach a verdict on another three.
“Intoxicated by fame”
During the hearing of this vi Ernes, Holmes read a few words before Judge Edward Dávila, apologizing.
“I am devastated by my mistakes. I feel deep pain for what people have gone through, because I failed them,” he said.
“I regret my mistakes with every cell in my body.”
According to reporters in court, the judge referred to Holmes as “brilliant” and told him that while “to err is normal, to err for fraud is not right.” .
He also questioned whether his deception had been influenced by his “intoxication with fame”.
He said Holmes was a “cautionary story” for other executives at Silicon Valley.
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC News World. Download the new version of our app and activate them so you don’t miss our best content.