Elizabeth Holmes
BY AGENCY REPORTER —-Ten months after she was found guilty of fraud, the former youngest self-made female billionaire Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced Friday to 11 years and three months in prison for defrauding investors with her Silicon Valley start-up firm.
At her trial, she was found guilty on four of 12 counts related to defrauding investors, but she was not found guilty of defrauding patients.
The former founder and CEO of Theranos, Holmes could have faced up to 20 years in prison for each of the four counts. By comparison, former pharmaceutical executive
Martin Shkreil was sentenced to seven years in prison for securities fraud, but was released after a bit more than four years.
At the courthouse in San Jose, both sides of United States vs. Elizabeth Holmes presented their cases regarding whether Judge Edward Davila can consider Holmes’ “reckless disregard” of patients in sentencing. Davila rejected that proposal, since at the original trial, Holmes was only found guilty of defrauding investors.
Regardless, it took over four hours before Holmes’ sentence was decided. Alex Schultz, father of whistleblower Tyler Schultz, spoke to the court, recounting how his son slept with a knife under his pillow when he suspected he was being followed by Theranos’ private investigators.
Then, Holmes herself spoke. “I regret my failings with every cell of my body,” she said.That was when Judge Davila delivered his decision.
Holmes is expected to report to prison in April.Currently, she is pregnant with her second child
Agency Reporter
