She was once the star of Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the blood testing company Theranos, is on trial for fraud. Prosecutors accuse her of being "blinded by ambition" and are asking for a hefty prison sentence and hundreds of millions of dollars.
Prosecutors have asked for 15 years in prison for the founder of the US blood test company Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, who was convicted of fraud. In addition, Holmes should pay more than $800 million to the injured investors, according to a court document filed by US Attorney Stephanie Hinds with the court. Holmes was "blinded by ambition" and put people in danger.
According to court documents, Holmes' lawyers said their client's detention would not be appropriate. The 38-year-old poses no danger, has admitted her mistakes and has not benefited financially from the fraud. Should the court nevertheless sentence her to a prison term, the lawyers demanded that it should not exceed 18 months. The sentence is to be announced on November 18th.
Holmes was found guilty of fraud by a jury in January. The jury found that she lured investors into investing in her company with intentionally false claims about Theranos technology.
Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 when he was just 19 years old. The company advertised a supposedly revolutionary technology for particularly fast, effective and inexpensive blood tests. Theranos made Holmes a billionaire, and for years the charismatic young entrepreneur was celebrated as a tech pioneer. She won financially strong investors and prominent supporters such as ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Later, research by the Wall Street Journal, which belongs to Murdoch's media empire, revealed that her blood test devices didn't work at all.
