American tech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to 11 years and three months in jail for defrauding buyers in her now-defunct blood-testing startup Theranos, that was as soon as valued at $9 billion (€9 billion).
In California on Friday, a federal choose sentenced Holmes, 38, on three counts of investor fraud and one depend of conspiracy after a jury convicted her final January following a trial spanning three months. The prosecution had beneficial a sentence of 15 years in jail, whereas the protection had urged the choose to impose no jail time.
Holmes, wearing a darkish shirt and black skirt, hugged her mother and father and her accomplice after the sentence was handed down.
Throughout the sentencing listening to, Holmes cried as she mentioned she was "devastated" by her failures and would have accomplished many issues in another way if she had the prospect.
"I've felt deep disgrace for what folks went by as a result of I failed them," Holmes mentioned.
Earlier than handing down the sentence, the choose referred to as the case "troubling on so many ranges," questioning what motivated Holmes, a "sensible" entrepreneur, to misrepresent her firm to buyers.
"This can be a fraud case the place an thrilling enterprise went ahead with nice expectations solely to be dashed by untruths, misrepresentations, plain hubris and lies," the choose mentioned.
Holmes has a deadline of subsequent April to give up herself to start out the jail sentence.
Her attorneys are anticipated to ask the choose to permit her to stay free on bail throughout her deliberate attraction. They're anticipated to attraction the choose's selections to uphold the jury's conviction of Holmes in addition to her sentence on the San Francisco-based ninth US Circuit Courtroom of Appeals.
What was Theranos, and what did Holmes promise it may do?
Prosecutors mentioned through the trial that Holmes misrepresented Theranos' expertise and funds, together with by claiming that its miniaturized blood testing machine was in a position to run an array of checks from a number of drops of blood. The corporate secretly relied on typical machines from different firms to run sufferers' checks, prosecutors mentioned.
Holmes testified in her personal protection, saying she believed her statements had been correct on the time.
She was convicted on 4 counts however acquitted on 4 different counts alleging she defrauded sufferers who paid for Theranos checks.
Theranos Inc promised to revolutionize how sufferers obtain diagnoses by changing conventional labs with small machines envisioned to be used in houses, drugstores and even on the battlefield.
Forbes dubbed Holmes the world's youngest feminine self-made billionaire in 2014, when she was 30 and her stake in Theranos was price $4.5 billion. Theranos collapsed after a collection of Wall Avenue Journal articles in 2015 questioned its expertise.
Actress Amanda Seyfried in September gained an Emmy Award for portraying Holmes within the restricted collection "The Dropout."
Earlier than sentencing Holmes, the choose requested if any of her victims had been within the courtroom.
Alex Shultz, whose son Tyler Shultz labored at Theranos and whose father, former US Secretary of State George Shultz, invested within the firm, informed the choose how a member of the family as soon as heard Holmes describe her supposedly revolutionary expertise.
"What is the hitch?'" the member of the family requested Holmes, in response to Shultz.
"There isn't a hitch," Holmes responded.
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