Founder and former CEO of the now-defunct Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, was found guilty on three charges of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, along with her co-founder and former business partner, Sunny Balwani. A judge handed down a 135-month (roughly 11-and-a-half-year) prison term on November 18, 2022, for her role in a $121 million fraud scheme that bilked ten people.
With a $9 billion valuation, Theranos was a darling of Silicon Valley, and Holmes’s black turtlenecks drew similarities to those of Steve Jobs.
Until The Wall Street Journal published John Carreyrou’s expose. According to what Carreyrou reported in that piece, Theranos only utilized its gadget for a small number of tests, and other staff were worried about its accuracy.
However, when it was revealed that Theranos’ labs weren’t up to snuff, the company’s ties with retailers like Safeway and Walgreens quickly unraveled. In addition, Theranos destroyed two years’ worth of laboratory data. Holmes was eventually barred from working in laboratories, and Theranos went out of business in 2018.