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posted by martyb on Wednesday January 05 2022, @04:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the the-harder-they-fall dept.

Elizabeth Holmes Found Guilty on 4 of 11 Charges

Elizabeth Holmes found guilty on 4 of 11 charges:

Elizabeth Holmes was convicted today of three counts of criminal wire fraud and one count of criminal conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The jury delivered its verdict after six days of deliberation.

The government's victory in the case is a rare rebuke for tech startups, which often pitch investors on their technological prowess and business acumen using wildly optimistic assumptions.

Theranos was, perhaps, an extreme example, raising over $900 million on the back of claims that its proprietary tests were better, cheaper, and less invasive than the competition. None of those claims was true, and unlike many other Silicon Valley startups, the health and safety of patients was on the line.

Holmes was found guilty of defrauding Lakeshore Capital Management (the family office of the DeVoses) of $100 million, PFM Healthcare (a hedge fund) of $38 million, and an LLC connected to Daniel Mosley (Henry Kissinger's former estate attorney) of $6 million. She was also convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Theranos investors more generally. On three charges, all alleging wire fraud against investors, the jury returned no verdict. Holmes was acquitted of all other charges, including those that involved defrauding patients. She faces up to 20 years in prison.

With the guilty verdict, Holmes, the founder of the company, is the first Theranos executive to be held criminally responsible for her actions, though she may not be the last.


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  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday January 05 2022, @07:57AM (2 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Wednesday January 05 2022, @07:57AM (#1210072) Journal

    Perhaps it's the embarrassment. The investors should've known better, they really should have. There was all kinds of evidence that Theranos was a fraud, but they wanted to believe it was real. These investors are supposed to be savvy, and an incident of this sort exposes them too. They look like a pack of idiots. She mixed the Kool-Aid. They drank it.

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  • (Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday January 05 2022, @09:05AM (1 child)

    by bradley13 (3053) on Wednesday January 05 2022, @09:05AM (#1210077) Homepage Journal

    Ah, but why did the investors want to believe? First, let's state the obvious: she was an attractive young woman and the investors were guys. Second, the requirements of progressivism: female CEOs of tech companies are rare, so criticizing her would have been seen as sexist. Combine the two, and they shut down their critical thinking and opened their collective wallets.

    Which was stupid, but doesn't alter the fact that Holmes lied and defrauded them. Just because you leave your house unlocked doesn't mean people are free to rob you. It's nice to see her found guilty.

    Also, as I understand it, civil suits can use this judgement to support damages for patients who relied on Theranos results.

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 06 2022, @01:33AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 06 2022, @01:33AM (#1210389)

      It doesn't really matter if she was a woman. Narcissist gas-lighting sociopaths use whatever God gave them as talents - could be that the very, very best need to be attractive or, as you say, female, and so the ones that end up on TV are in that select class of human.