A court in California has sentenced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes to 11 years and 3 months in prison for fraud and defrauding investors. It will also have to pay damages in the amount of $121 million.
Holmes founded the biotech startup Theranos in 2003. She claimed to have come up with a device that can perform more than 1,000 tests on a single drop of blood, and that she allegedly found partners to set up testing centers. She also stated that the technology was approved by pharmaceutical companies, and it was already used during the military operations in Afghanistan.
These claims turned out to be lies, exposed by The Wall Street Journal in 2015. After the exposure, the company was shut down and Holmes and her business partner Ramesh Balwani were charged with fraud. Balvani was found guilty on 12 counts and will be sentenced on December 7.
During the trial, Holmes accused Balwani, who had also been her romantic partner for 10 years, of sexual assault and abuse. Balwani has denied all allegations.