Elizabeth Holmes

About Elizabeth Holmes

Who is Elizabeth Holmes?

Elizabeth Holmes is an American businesswoman and was the CEO of Theranos, a now-defunct health technology company that soared in valuation after the company claimed to have revolutionised blood testing.

In 2015, Holmes was named the youngest self-made female billionaire in the US based on her company's valuation. But later in 2016, fraud revelations led to the revised estimate of Holmes that gave her a net worth of zero, whereas Fortune named her among the "The World's 19 Most Disappointing Leaders".

Following investigations into the revelations, the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018 charged Theranos and Holmes with deceiving investors by "massive fraud" through false or exaggerated claims about the accuracy of the blood-testing technology.

She settled the charges by paying a $500,000 fine, returning 18.9 million shares, relinquishing her voting control of Theranos, and being barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for ten years.

Background

Born 1984 in Washington, DC, and went to St. John's School in Houston. In school, she was interested in computer programming and started her first business selling C++ compilers to Chinese universities. In 2002, Holmes attended Stanford University, where she studied chemical engineering.

In 2003, she founded the company Real-Time Cures in California, to "democratise healthcare" and described her fear of needles as motivation, and sought to perform blood tests using only small amounts of blood. Later, Holmes renamed the company Theranos and raised $6 million to fund the firm. By 2010, Theranos had more than $92 million in venture capital and became.

The Fall of Theranos

The Wall Street Journal initiated a secret investigation of Theranos after receiving a tip from a medical expert who thought the blood testing device seemed suspicious. When Holmes learned of the probe, she started a campaign to stop Carreyrou from publishing, which included legal and financial threats. In 2015, Carreyrou published a story detailing problems with the company and Holmes's conduct.

After a series of lawsuits and frauding investors, the company announced to dissolve in 2018.

On January 3, 2022, Holmes was found guilty on four counts of defrauding investors – three counts of wire fraud, and one of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Latest Updates on Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes objects to $250-a-amonth victim payments after prison

Federal prosecutors say there's a clerical error in a court filing that doesn't specify a schedule for Holmes to pay $452 million in restitution to victims of her massive fraud

Updated On: 13 Jun 2023 | 8:55 AM IST

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All you need to know about Theranos' former COO Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani

In what is considered to be one of the biggest frauds in Silicon Valley, Balwani was convicted on all 12 charges in July for his role at Theranos. He has been sentenced to a prison term of 13 years

Updated On: 09 Dec 2022 | 12:06 PM IST

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Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to 11 years in prison for Theranos Fraud

"I am devastated by my failings," Holmes said. "Looking back there are so many things I'd do differently if I had the chance. I tried to realize my dream too quickly."

Updated On: 19 Nov 2022 | 6:43 AM IST

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Elizabeth Holmes faces years in prison for her crimes in Theranos collapse

Holmes stands out among white-collar criminals because relatively few of them are women convicted of such serious fraud, legal experts say

Updated On: 18 Nov 2022 | 8:06 AM IST

Theranos COO Ramesh Balwani found guilty of multimillion-dollar fraud in US

The federal jury in San Jose on Thursday found Pakistan-born Balwani, 57, guilty of two counts of conspiracy and ten counts of wire fraud through a multimillion-dollar scheme

Updated On: 09 Jul 2022 | 2:25 AM IST