Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who rose to prominence when her blood testing business failed amid allegations of fraud, is due to report to prison on Tuesday to start a term of more than 11 years.
In January 2022, Holmes was found guilty of four charges of wire fraud. Her conviction marked the conclusion of an ordeal that started in 2003 when she left Stanford University at the age of 19 in order to found a company whose technology she hoped would enable the diagnosis of several illnesses with just a drop of blood.
Over the following ten years, Holmes turned Theranos into a Silicon Valley favourite with a peak valuation of over $9 billion. High-profile businessmen including Rupert Murdoch, the Walton family (heirs to the Walmart empire), and US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos invested in Theranos.
The board of directors of Theranos would expand to include former defence secretary James Mattis, two former senators, and former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz.
However, as a result of revelations that the company’s technology did not seem to operate as claimed and that it could produce inaccurate findings, headed by then-Wall Street Journal journalist John Carreyrou, Theranos’ claims about its capabilities started to fall apart.
The pandemic would push back the trials for Holmes and Balwani until the fall of 2021. Holmes’ defence mostly focused on assertions that Balwani had influence over her, an allegation that Balwani later refuted. Holmes added that she had not intended to deceive investors.
The jury found Holmes guilty despite rejecting the majority of his defences. Holmes and Balwani, who had both been found guilty, were given their sentences in the fall of 2022. According to experts, Balwani’s prior expertise in managing other enterprises led to a harsher sentence of nearly 13 years in prison.
In a recent New York Times profile, Holmes indicated she still harboured ambitions to build in the medical technology industry. “I still dream about being able to contribute in that space,” Holmes said. “I still feel the same calling to it as I always did and I still think the need is there.”
