Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to more than 11 years for defrauding investors

Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison over her role in the blood testing firm that collapsed after its technology was revealed to be largely fraudulent.

Holmes was convicted in January on four counts of defrauding investors. She appeared on Friday afternoon at the San Jose, California, courthouse where her nearly four-month-long trial began in August 2021, alongside relatives and supporters, including her partner, Billy Evans.

The sentencing marked a dramatic end to the years-long saga of the blood testing firm, which Holmes founded after dropping out of Stanford at 19 years old. Promising a revolutionary technology that could run hundreds of health tests on just a drop of blood, Theranos attracted big-name backers such as the former secretary of state Henry Kissinger and the former defense secretary James Mattis, who testified against her in the trial.

It was once valued at more than $9bn, but it imploded after reporting in the Wall Street Journal in 2015 revealed shortcomings and inaccuracies in its core technology. Theranos dissolved in 2018 and Holmes was charged with 12 counts of fraud, alongside her co-executive and former romantic partner, Sunny Balwani, who was convicted on 12 counts in his own trial.

Davila ordered three years of supervised release once Holmes is out of prison. He will set a hearing date to determine the amount of restitution she must pay. Holmes has been ordered to surrender herself into custody in April, although her lawyers are expected to ask that she remain free and on bail while she appeals the sentence.

Federal prosecutors had suggested the judge sentence Holmes to 15 years in prison and require her to pay $800m in restitution, while her lawyers requested a sentence of no more than 18 months to be served on house arrest.

Her legal team has also argued Holmes was the victim of abuse at the hands of Balwani, who they say influenced her decisions at the company that led to its collapse. Balwani, who has denied these claims, is due to be sentenced in December.

Her sentencing could lead founders in the future to be more careful about what they advertise of companies in the future, said Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor.