Elizabeth Holmes, a former Silicon Valley star who promised to revolutionize blood testing with her start-up Theranos, was convicted on Monday of fraud by a California court.
After more than three months of trial and 50 hours of deliberation, the San José court jury found her guilty of defrauding investors, but acquitted her of certain charges and was unable to meet. agree on other facts that were alleged once morest him.
This conviction exposes the 37-year-old woman to several decades in prison, but the sentence will be pronounced at a later date by the federal court.
Elizabeth Holmes had founded Theranos in 2003, at the age of 19, and promised diagnostic tools that were faster and cheaper than those in traditional laboratories.
With the help of a careful account, she had managed in a few years to gain the trust of luminaries and to raise funds from prestigious investors, attracted by the profile of this young woman, a rarity in the male world of Californian engineers. .
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger supports her, as does former Defense Minister James Mattis or media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who is investing more than $ 100 million in Theranos.
At its peak, the company is valued at nearly $ 10 billion, and majority shareholder Elizabeth Holmes is the head of a fortune of $ 3.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
But in 2015, the Wall Street Journal noted the huge pot of roses: the fabulous machine promised by Theranos never worked.
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