“She was not just the CEO,” O’Mara said, “she was a very powerful CEO in the Silicon Valley model.” While much of Silicon Valley has tried to distance itself from Theranos for a variety of reasons, including that the startup was a medical device manufacturer, the power and control Holmes wielded over Theranos had all the trappings of a tech company, O’Mara said.
George Demos, a former Securities and Exchange Commission prosecutor and adjunct law professor at the UC Davis School of Law, called the verdict “a significant win for the government and sends a powerful signal to Silicon Valley that fraud cannot masquerade as innovation.” “She was made possible by a Valley business culture that celebrated and encouraged very young, marginally experienced people.” “This is a verdict that should matter not just to Silicon Valley but to the people who celebrate it, invest in it and use its products,” said Margaret O’Mara, a historian of the tech industry and professor at the University of Washington. While Holmes was the one on trial, the outcome of her case could serve as a cautionary tale for others in Silicon Valley. Jurors were tasked with determining whether Holmes was a well-meaning founder who made mistakes as she built her startup, as her defense posited, or whether she intentionally deceived investors and patients in order to help herself and her company succeed, as federal prosecutors alleged.Įlizabeth Holmes is kissed on her head by her father in federal court in San Jose, California, on January 3, 2022.
Elizabeth holmes theranos trial#
Holmes’ case marked a rare criminal fraud trial of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. More than 30 witnesses testified during the trial, culminating with Holmes, who took the stand for seven days in her own defense. The verdict comes after a trial that spanned over three months at a federal courthouse in San Jose. The counts pertained to three of the investor wire fraud charges. However, hours later, the jury returned another note that indicated it remained unable to reach a verdict on those counts. In response, Judge Davila issued what is known as an Allen charge, instructing them to continue deliberating to try to reach a verdict. Earlier Monday, the jury returned a note indicating they could not reach a unanimous verdict on three of the counts.
The jury deliberated for over 50 hours before returning a verdict on eight of the 11 charges. Over the course of its 11-week case, the government called just three patient witnesses to the stand, two of whom were individually tied to wire fraud counts. Notably, the jury of eight men and four women determined that Holmes was guilty on counts pertaining to investors, but none of the counts that pertained to defrauding patients. The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes: A timeline Carlos ChavarrÌa/The New York Times/Redux Elizabeth Holmes with a Theranos blood testing machine at the company's facility in Newark, California, in December 2015.
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