Elizabeth Holmes Guilty on Four Out of Eleven Counts

By MedTech Intelligence Staff
January 4, 2022


• Categories: 02-MedTech Economics, 05-Quality/Regulatory

After deliberating for seven days, a jury has found Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of now defunct Thernos, guilty on four counts of wire fraud or conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was found not guilty on four counts and the jury was deadlocked on three counts of wire fraud against Theranos investors. Convicted of defrauding investors out of more than $100 million, Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison for each guilty count. Her sentencing date has not yet been set.

Here’s the breakdown of the jury’s decision on each count, as specified by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

1. Conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Theranos investors between 2010 and 2015: Guilty.
2. Conspiracy to commit wire fraud against patients who paid for Theranos’s blood testing services between 2013 and 2016: Not guilty.
3. Wire fraud in connection with a wire transfer of $99,990 from Alan Jay Eisenman on or about Dec. 30, 2013: No verdict.
4. Wire fraud in connection with a wire transfer of $5,349,900 from Black Diamond Ventures on or about Dec. 31, 2013: No verdict.
5. Wire fraud in connection with a wire transfer of $4,875,000 from Hall Phoenix Inwood, Ltd. on or about Dec. 31, 2013: No verdict.
6. Wire fraud in connection with a wire transfer of $38,336,632 from PFM Healthcare Master Fund on or about Feb. 6, 2014: Guilty.
7. Wire fraud in connection with a wire transfer of $99,999,984 from Lakeshore Capital Management, LP on or about Oct. 31, 2014:Guilty.
8. Wire fraud in connection with a wire transfer of $5,999,997 from Mosley Family Holdings on or about Oct. 31, 2014: Guilty.
9. Count nine dropped.
10. Wire fraud in connection with a patient’s lab blood test results on or about May 11, 2015: Not guilty.
11. Wire fraud in connection with a patient’s lab blood test results on or about May 16, 2015: Not guilty.
12. Wire fraud in connection with a wire transfer of $1,126,661, which was used to buy ads for Theranos Wellness Centers, on or about Aug. 3, 2015: Not guilty.

“She consciously and purposely hid the data and falsified the data, and I think the charges that she was convicted on demonstrate that,” Mark Schwartz, Ph.D., biotechnology advisor and San Jose State professor, told ABC affiliate KGO.

“I found myself shifting to feeling very much more sympathetic to the investors. I realized that if you just get flat out lied to it’s awfully hard to make a rational decision,” retired biotech executive Anne Kopf-Sill told the affiliate station. “I was also very influenced by the investor from Texas that recorded in secret, the pitch that Elizabeth was making, and it made me much more sympathetic to the investors that I had been before the trial. They seemed like they were really getting lied to.” Kopf-Sill was in the courthouse watching the trial for more than 30 days.

The trial against Holmes began late-summer 2021.