Former Silicon Valley star Elizabeth Holmes, convicted of fraud last January, was sentenced on Friday to just over 11 years in prison. She had founded the start-up Theranos, which held the promise of a revolution in health diagnostics.
Elizabeth Holmes was present for the sentencing in a federal court in San Jose, California. Currently pregnant, she has until April 27 to begin her sentence, said judge Edward Davila. It was he who presided over the trial of the entrepreneur, convicted last January of having lied to investors regarding the real progress of her business.
>> Lire: Elizabeth Holmes sentenced for fraud with her start-up Theranos
The prosecution had requested fifteen years in prison once morest the former leader of 38 years, and demanded that she return 800 million dollars to her victims.
Hundreds of millions cheated
“Blinded by ambition”, Elizabeth Holmes “swindled hundreds of millions of dollars from dozens of investors” and “put patients in danger”, recalled prosecutor Stephanie Hinds, accusing the fallen boss of not not take responsibility.
The defense had pleaded for a maximum sentence of one and a half years. Elizabeth Holmes does not represent a danger to society, she did not derive any financial benefit from this case and therefore does not deserve to spend years in prison for having failed in her “ambitious project”, her lawyers had justified in their argument delivered to the court last Tuesday.
A startup founded at the age of 19
Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos in 2003, at just 19 years old, with the idea of making a blood diagnostic tool that was quick, painless and cheaper than those in traditional laboratories.
With the help of a very elaborate story and appearance, she had managed in a few years to gain the confidence 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.
Various blinded personalities
“I thought it would be the next Apple,” summed up Adam Rosendorff, who had once been the company’s laboratory director, during the trial.
Media magnate Rupert Murdoch, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Jim Mattis, Donald Trump’s defense minister, were once convinced by Elizabeth Holmes’ project.
At its peak, the company was valued at nearly $10 billion. But in 2015 the scandal came to light when the Wall Street Journal revealed that the machine had never worked.
afp/oang
