Theronos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Found Guilty Of Fraud & Conspiracy

On Tuesday, a California jury found former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes guilty of turning her blood testing startup company into a fraudulent scheme.

Holmes was able to fool billionaires and investors into backing a “revolutionary” company whose medical technology failed to impress and work as Holmes promised.

Holmes was found guilty on two counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud on Monday after a week-long deliberation. She now faces up to 20 years in prison for each guilty count, although legal experts say she is unlikely to receive anything close to the maximum sentence.

The jury deadlocked on the three remaining charges.

Federal prosecutors spent most of the trial using evidence to depict Holmes as obsessed with wealth and fame.

Holmes tried to show the jury an alternative narrative, casting herself as a trailblazer, driven and successful woman in male-dominated Silicon Valley, who was emotionally and sexually abused by her ex and former business partner, Sunny Balwani.

Holmes bowed her head as the jury polled by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, and remained seating not showing any emotions for her new fate.

She founded Theranos in 2003 at the age of 19 with the intention to create a more humane, convenient, and cheaper way to scan for hundreds of diseases, and other health problems by taking a few drops of blood with a finger prick instead of sticking a needle into people’s arms.

The concept intrigued wealthy investors and the company raised more than $900 million. The projected fortune Holmes achieved was $4.5 billion.

Throughout the seven day trial, Holmes kept testifying that she believed her company was on the brink of changing technology and never stopped believing it would.