The sentencing in the identical San Jose, Calif., courtroom the place Holmes was convicted on 4 counts of investor fraud and conspiracy in January marks one other climactic second in a saga that has been dissected in an HBO documentary and an award-winning Hulu collection about her meteoric rise and mortifying downfall.
Holmes, 38, confronted a most of 20 years, however her authorized workforce requested the choose for a sentence of not more than 18 months, ideally served in residence confinement.
Her attorneys argued that Holmes deserved extra lenient remedy as a well-meaning entrepreneur who’s now a loyal mom with one other little one on the way in which. Their arguments have been supported by greater than 130 letters submitted by household, mates and former colleagues praising Holmes.
Prosecutors additionally wished Holmes to pay $804 million in restitution. The quantity covers many of the practically $1 billion that Holmes raised from a listing of refined buyers that included software program magnate Larry Ellison, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the Walton household behind Walmart.
Whereas wooing buyers, Holmes leveraged a high-powered Theranos board that included former Protection Secretary James Mattis, who testified in opposition to her throughout her trial, and two former secretaries of state, Henry Kissinger and the late George Shultz, whose son submitted a press release blasting Holmes for concocting a scheme that performed Shultz “for the idiot.”
Holmes should report back to jail on April 27. After giving delivery to a son shortly earlier than her trial began final 12 months, she grew to become pregnant in some unspecified time in the future whereas free on bail this 12 months.
Though her attorneys didn’t point out the being pregnant in an 82-page memo submitted to the choose final week, the being pregnant was confirmed in a letter from her present companion, William “Billy” Evans, that urged the choose to be merciful.
If Holmes’ being pregnant had a task in figuring out her sentence, the choice may show controversial. A 2019 research discovered that greater than 1,000 pregnant girls entered federal or state prisons over a 12-month research interval; 753 of them gave delivery in custody.
In keeping with a 2016 survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, greater than half of ladies getting into federal jail — 58% — reported being moms of minor youngsters.
Federal prosecutor Robert Leach declared that Holmes deserves a extreme punishment for engineering a rip-off that he described as one of the crucial egregious white-collar crimes ever dedicated in Silicon Valley. In a scathing 46-page memo, Leach instructed the choose he has a chance to ship a message that curbs the hubris and hyperbole unleashed by the tech increase.
Holmes “preyed on hopes of her buyers {that a} younger, dynamic entrepreneur had modified healthcare,” Leach wrote. “And thru her deceit, she attained spectacular fame, adoration and billions of {dollars} of wealth.”
Though Holmes was acquitted by a jury on 4 counts of fraud and conspiracy tied to sufferers who took Theranos blood exams, Leach additionally requested Davila to issue within the well being threats posed by Holmes’ conduct.
Holmes’ lawyer Kevin Downey painted her as a selfless visionary who spent 14 years of her life attempting to revolutionize well being care.
Though proof submitted throughout her trial confirmed the blood exams produced wildly unreliable outcomes that would have steered sufferers towards the unsuitable therapies, her attorneys asserted that Holmes by no means stopped attempting to good the know-how till Theranos collapsed in 2018.
In addition they identified that Holmes by no means offered any of her Theranos shares — a stake valued at $4.5 billion in 2014, when Holmes was being hailed as the following Steve Jobs on the covers of enterprise magazines.
Defending herself in opposition to prison fees has left Holmes with “substantial debt from which she is unlikely to get better,” Downey wrote, suggesting that she is unlikely to pay any restitution that Davila would possibly order as a part of her sentence.
“Holmes shouldn’t be a hazard to society,” Downey wrote.
Downey additionally requested Davila to think about the alleged sexual and emotional abuse Holmes suffered whereas she was concerned romantically with Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who grew to become a Theranos investor, high govt and ultimately an confederate in her crimes.
Balwani, 57, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 7 after being convicted in a July trial on 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy.