Who Is Elizabeth Holmes & How She Lost Her Fortune At Theranos?Why was she convicted?
Elizabeth Anne Holmes, a former biotechnology entrepreneur who was found guilty of criminal fraud, was born in the United States on February 3, 1984. Theranos, a now-defunct health technology company that saw its valuation soar after the company claimed to have revolutionized blood testing by developing techniques that could use surprisingly small volumes of blood, such as from a fingerprick, was founded in 2003 by Holmes and he served as its chief executive officer (CEO).
Based on a $9 billion value of her business, Forbes declared Holmes the youngest and richest self-made female billionaire in America in 2015. As evidence of possible fraud regarding Theranos‘s claims started to emerge the following year, Forbes reduced its estimate of Holmes’s net worth to zero, and Fortune included her in its feature piece on “The World’s 19 Most Disappointing Leaders.”
About Elizabeth Holmes?
Theranos, a now-defunct health technology business, was founded and led by Elizabeth Anne Holmes. The company erroneously claimed to have revolutionized blood testing by creating testing techniques that could use remarkably little quantities of blood, like that obtained from a finger prick. In 2022, she was discovered to have committed fraud.
On February 3, 1984, Elizabeth Holmes was born in Washington, D.C.
Her father, Christian Holmes, worked for Enron before moving to government organizations like USAID, while her mother, Noel Holmes, worked for a Congressional committee.
Holmes’ family moved to Houston when she was a little child from Washington, DC.
Why Was She Convicted?
Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of fraud after converting her Silicon Valley startup, Theranos, into a sophisticated scam that defrauded billionaires and other gullible investors out of their money by promising medical technologies that never materialized. On January 3, 2022, Holmes was judged responsible for four of the eleven fraud allegations against her; she was exonerated on four of the charges, and the jury was unable to agree on three of them.
Theranos: What is it?
A privately held American health technology company called Theranos claimed to have created blood tests that required very little blood and could be completed very quickly using the company’s small automated instruments. But these claims were later proven false.
Elizabeth Holmes, then 19 years old, created Theranos in 2003. She raised over US $700 million from venture capitalists and other investors, which resulted in a $10 billion valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014.
False claims Theranos’ fraudulent business model was based on the idea that blood tests could be completed using proprietary technology with only a pinprick in the finger and a very small amount of blood.
According to Holmes, the tests will be able to identify conditions like cancer and high cholesterol.
The Court’s Decision
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of deceiving investors by a US jury, who found her guilty on four out of eleven counts.
Holmes was found guilty of conspiring to defraud investors, but she was cleared of three charges of defrauding patients who paid for Theranos tests and another conspiracy charge.
The jury was deadlocked on three counts involving additional, individual investors.
She faces up to 80 years in prison when US District Judge Edward Davila sentences her, though many believe she will get much less time.
Holmes was also accused of misleading patients about the validity of the tests, but he was cleared.
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