ELIZABETH HOLMES, THE CREATOR OF THERANOS, IS IN PRISON FOR FRAUD

  • 19/11/2022

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, was given a sentence of more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors in her blood testing startup, which had a previous valuation of $9 billion (£7.5 billion).

The former Silicon Valley celebrity misrepresented the capabilities of the technology, saying it could diagnose illness with just a few drops of blood.

The 38-year-old Holmes, who is expecting a child, sobbed to the court that the victims of the con had caused her "deep pain."

In January, after a three-month trial, she was found guilty.

Holmes plans to challenge the judgement, which was delivered on Friday in a California court. 

Once hailed as the "next Steve Jobs", she was at one time said to be the world's youngest self-made billionaire.

She launched Theranos after dropping out of Stanford University at age 19, and its value rose sharply after the company claimed it could bring about a revolution in disease diagnosis.

But the technology Holmes touted did not work and - awash in lawsuits - the company was dissolved by 2018.

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