2023-05-31 00:09:34
Former American biotech star Elizabeth Holmes began serving her 11-year prison sentence Tuesday in a Texas state prison, where she was sent for defrauding investors from her company, Theranos, out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The 39-year-old woman arrived at the federal women’s prison in Bryan, near Houston. She did so following a court denied her last request to remain free while she appealed the fraud conviction.
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“We can confirm that Elizabeth Holmes has arrived at Camp Bryan Federal Prison and is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons,” authorities said in a statement.
Who is Elizabeth Holmes, the woman who scammed Silicon Valley
Holmes became a Silicon Valley star when he announced that Theranos was developing a novel technology to improve blood testing through a wide-range medical diagnostic device. With just a few drops of blood and in a few minutes, he promised to detect serious diseases such as cancer or diabetes.
As the founder of this company, she became a tech celebrity, attracting investment from well-known political figures and some of the world’s richest people, including Rupert Murdochand the founder of Oracle, Larry Ellison; as well as the Walgreens pharmacy chain.
Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes arriving at court in San Jose, Calif., on Oct. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)By: AP
Theranos also achieved fame for its board of directors, made up of former US officials such as Henry KissingerGeorge Shultz and Jim Mattis.
However, an investigation of The Wall Street Journal questioned the capacity of the Theranos devices and the validity of the blood tests and the fraud was exposed.
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In addition to his prison time, Holmes was ordered by the court to pay $452 million to the defrauded investors. In 2014, Forbes had valued her fortune at $4.5 billion and described her as the youngest female billionaire not to inherit her money.
A miracle of science
Holmes founded Theranos when he was just 19 years old. The company promised to diagnose dozens of diseases through the processing of a few drops of blood in state-of-the-art machines. He claimed that it would only take a few minutes to work the miracle.
Funds poured in from all sides when he introduced his project that promised fabulous profits in Silicon Valley, home to many emerging and global technology companies. But the plan never materialized and the money disappeared.
Elizabeth Holmes is already in prison (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)By: REUTERS
How Elizabeth Holmes fooled Silicon Valley
At first, the company Holmes founded seemed destined to become one of Silicon Valley’s many success stories.
His family contacts made it easier for him to land in the business world. But there was something that catapulted her to the top: the father of a childhood friend invested a million dollars in her company. It was regarding Tim Draper, a well-known name in the business sphere and among venture investors. It was all he needed.
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The investments began to rain on his head. Bill Clintonthe Mexican Carlos Slim o Rupert Murdoch They were some of those who were encouraged to bet on their future. Two years later, she already had almost a billion dollars insured. At only 32 years old, his name He entered the exclusive list of millionaires made by the magazine Forbes with a fortune of 4.5 billion dollars.
But a year later the storm began. The magazine removed Holmes from its list in 2016 and various outlets began to wonder what was really going on inside his company.
In the trial everything was known. “Someone” from within the company alerted investors that the project did not exist. chemistry Surekha Gangakhedkar, recounted in the trial that employees were pressured to validate tests without going through any type of study. One of the employees Erika Cheungstated that machines that promised analysis in minutes took up to 14 hours to calibrate and another 12 to program with the necessary quality control standards.
It was all a fraud. This Tuesday Holmes finally entered prison where he will spend the next 11 years.
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