SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Holmes to face maximum of 80 years in prison when she’s sentenced in September:
While she is likely to receive prison time for defrauding investors, she will be able to spend the next eight and a half months out on bail. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each of the four counts she was convicted of, though it’s unlikely that she’ll be sentenced to all 80 years.
Holmes has been out on bail since June 2018, when she and alleged co-conspirator Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were charged. Both were released after posting $500,000 bonds and surrendering their passports. Now that Holmes has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing, her bond will have to be secured by property. Their trials have been repeatedly pushed back, first because of the COVID pandemic and then later because Holmes gave birth.
Part of the reason Holmes’ sentencing has been postponed is because the government still has to prosecute its case against Balwani.
Previously:
2022/01/04 - Elizabeth Holmes Found Guilty on 4 of 11 Charges
2020/09/13 - Judge in Theranos Fraud Case Orders 14-Hour Psychological Test for Holmes
2019/07/01 - Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes to Face Trial Next Year on Fraud Charges
2018/09/06 - Theranos to Dissolve in a Pool of Blood
2018/06/17 - Elizabeth Holmes Steps Down as Theranos CEO as DoJ Levels Charges
2018/03/15 - Blood Unicorn Fairy Tale: Theranos Founder Charged With Fraud
2017/12/24 - Theranos Given Indirect Lifeline From Softbank
2016/10/06 - Theranos Lays Off 340, Closes Labs and "Wellness Centers"
2016/08/03 - Theranos Introduces New Product to Distract from Scandal
(Score: 2, Insightful) by pTamok on Saturday January 15 2022, @02:31PM (6 children)
From a northern European perspective (damn socialists/communists), putting her in jail for the rest of her life strikes me as unnecessarily punitive and expensive. Punitive, because there is little difference in terms of deterrence between a short sentence and a long one*, expensive because keeping people in jail is expensive, and because have someone being unproductive to society for so long is also not cheap. Loss of liberty is adequate punishment for most people, and many studies show that rehabilitation to diminish the chance of recidivism is extremely cost-effective.
Obviously, some people need to be incarcerated for the safety of society, or for their own safety: but for the others, rehabilitation should be the goal.
Against longer sentences: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180514-do-long-prison-sentences-deter-crime [bbc.com]
For longer sentences: https://www.nber.org/digest/oct98/sentence-enhancements-reduce-crime [nber.org]
It's more complicated than you might think: https://netivist.org/debate/long-prison-sentences [netivist.org]
One UK activist's view: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/nov/19/do-long-jail-sentences-stop-we-ask-the-expert [theguardian.com]
Will putting her in jail deter others from defrauding? My view is that the type of personality that defrauds either doesn't think of the consequences, or believe that they are too smart to be caught.
Is it economically effective? When you look at the cost of jail per inmate, you'd think that rehabilitation would be given a shot so that taxpayers could save the long term cost.
So yes, out her in jail. Get her to acknowledge her guilt. Put her back in society so she can work to support herself and others (through taxes).
*Career criminals say they fear being caught, not doing the time. It is not for nothing there is a phrase "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime" - for many, doing the time is no great imposition, and often gives an opportunity to network and learn how to be more effective criminals.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 15 2022, @03:17PM (1 child)
US is the world's number one jailer, incarnations rate is almost exponential
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 15 2022, @07:55PM
they hate us because of our freedoms!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 15 2022, @06:37PM
In this case, we can't necessarily assume that the sentences will run consecutively, they might well run concurrently cutting it down a lot. She's a first time offender, so she'll probably get something lower than that as well and there'll probably be time off for good behavior. It's hard to say how much time she'll actually face, but it won't be anywhere near that maximum sentence length.
It's one of the quirks of the US that you can face basically the rest of your life behind bars and then get something thats closer to a slap on the wrist. I'd be surprised if she serves much more than 5 years when all is said and done. And it will probably be done in a country club jail that's more equivalent to a normal jail in much of Europe.
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Saturday January 15 2022, @07:11PM
I mostly agree, though she may be just the type that is impossible to rehabilitate.
In prison, she will make a small positive contribution, landscaping the prison grounds or cleaning or some other job. Out free, we've seen that her contribution to society is a large negative number.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday January 15 2022, @10:49PM
When the East Asian Financial Crisis hit in 1997, Vietnam executed financial managers there who were convicted of white collar crimes.
I don't know if it has deterred anyone else since, but it's a lot more viscerally satisfying to the rest of us to hang the biggest thieves in the world instead of the slap on the wrist and tennis and golf holiday in low security jails they get in the West.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday January 17 2022, @07:08PM
I'd say life in prison is about as much of a deterrent as you can get. As to the expense, I'd rather my taxes pay for her incarceration than Bush's 20 year war.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org