Prosecutors seek 15 years in prison for Theranos founder Elizabeth
Federal Prosecutors Seek 15-Year Sentence for ‘Remorseless’ Theranos Fraudster Elizabeth Holmes
Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes arrives at federal court on Oct. 17, 2022 in San Jose, California
federal prosecutors asked a judge to sentence disgraced ex-Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes to 15 year in prison.
Ranking her fraud among the “most substantial white collar offenses Silicon Valley or any other District has seen,”
The government released its sentencing memo shortly after Holmes’s attorneys requested a non-jail sentence, touted support from Sen.
Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and cast their client as a “victim.” “She is not,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Leach wrote in a blistering, 46-page brief.
“Holmes was the CEO and the Chairperson of Theranos. She repeatedly chose lies, hype, and the prospect of billions of dollars over patient safety and fair dealing with investors.
Elizabeth Holmes’ crimes were not failing, they were lying—lying in the most serious context, where everyone needed her to tell the truth.”
In addition to a lengthy term of incarceration, prosecutors want Holmes to pay $803,840,309
in restitution for what they called a years-long scheme to cheat dozens of investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Time and again, she chose deceit over candor,” the sentencing memo states. “She forged her own endorsements.
She preyed on hopes of her investors that a young, dynamic entrepreneur had changed healthcare.
She leveraged the credibility of her illustrious board. And, through her deceit, she attained spectacular fame, adoration, and billions of dollars of wealth.”
In 2015, Holmes became ranked by Forbes as the youngest and wealthiest self-made billionaire from Theranos.
Her company claimed to have developed a revolutionary method to perform blood testing with an amount as small as a finger-prick, and at one point, Theranos rose to a $9 billion valuation at its height.