The 38-year-old was convicted by a California jury of three counts of investor fraud and one count of conspiracy in January. He was sentenced to 135 months in prison. Prosecutors also sought $804 million (£675 million) in damages from Holmes. The sum covers most of the nearly $1bn (£840m) it raised from a sophisticated list of investors that included software tycoon Larry Ellison, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the Walton family behind Walmart. Prosecutors had called Holmes’ crimes “among the most significant crimes Silicon Valley or any region has ever seen.” Image: In her defence, Holmes said she believed her statements were accurate at the time. Photo: AP Her legal team had urged the judge to be lenient and not make their client “a witness to public passion”. The sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila was less than the 15-year sentence federal prosecutors had sought, but much harsher than the leniency her legal team had sought for the mother of a one-year-old son with another child. street The judge said Theranos had used “misrepresentations, libels and plain lies.” Prosecutors said Holmes misrepresented Theranos’ technology and financials, including by claiming its tiny blood machine was able to run a series of tests from a few drops of blood. The company secretly relied on other companies’ conventional machines to conduct patient tests, prosecutors said. Holmes’ remarkable rise and dramatic fall was the subject of a documentary and award-winning television series. Image: The now-defunct company was once valued at $9bn (£7.5bn). Photo: AP Once valued at $9bn (£7.5bn), now-defunct Theranos Inc promised to revolutionize the way patients received diagnoses by replacing traditional laboratories with small machines designed for use in homes, pharmacies and even the battlefield. Forbes named Holmes the world’s youngest female self-made billionaire in 2014, when she was 30 and her stake in Theranos was worth $4.5bn (£3.8bn). But the start-up collapsed after a series of Wall Street Journal articles in 2015 questioned its technology. At trial, prosecutors said Holmes engaged in fraud by lying to investors about Theranos’ technology and finances rather than allowing the company to fail. Holmes testified in her own defense, saying she believed her statements were accurate at the time. Image: The 38-year-old’s partner, Billy Evans, urged the judge to be lenient. Photo: AP “Played for a fool” Although she was convicted of three counts, Holmes was acquitted of four other counts alleging she defrauded patients who paid for Theranos tests. The judge in the case, Edward Davila, has previously denied Holmes’ requests to overturn her convictions, saying they were supported by the evidence at trial. After her conviction, Holmes can appeal. While courting investors, Holmes assembled a powerful Theranos board that included former US Defense Secretary James Mattis, who testified against her during her trial, and two former US Secretaries of State, Henry Kissinger and the late George Shultz , whose son filed a statement criticizing Holmes for making a plan that played Schultz “for a fool.” For more on science and technology, explore the future with Sky News at Big Ideas Live 2022. Find out more and book tickets here
