Washington
\nFallen US biotech star Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on Monday of defrauding investors in her blood-testing startup Theranos, in a high-profile case seen as an indictment of Silicon Valley culture.
\nHolmes is a rare example of a tech exec being brought to book over a company flaming out, in a sector littered with the carcasses of money-losing companies that once promised untold riches.
\nHer case shone a spotlight on the blurred line between the hustle that characterizes the industry and outright criminal dishonesty.
\nJurors took seven days of deliberations to reach their verdict, finding her guilty of four counts of tricking investors into pouring money into what she claimed was a revolutionary testing system.
\nBut the panel — who had listened to weeks of sometimes complex evidence — also acquitted her on four charges and could not reach a verdict on three others.
\n\u201cThe guilty verdicts in this case reflect Ms. Holmes\u2019 culpability in this large-scale investor fraud and she must now face sentencing for her crimes,\u201d US Attorney Stephanie Hinds said in a prepared statement read outside the courthouse by a representative.
\nHolmes made no comment as she left the court when asked if she intended to appeal.
\nThe 37-year-old now faces the possibility of 20 years behind bars for each conviction. She remains at liberty ahead of another hearing on the terms of her bail next week. No date was set for sentencing.
\nHolmes had vowed to revolutionize health diagnostics with self-service machines that could run an array of tests on just a few drops of blood, a vision that drew high-profile backers and made her a billionaire by the age of 30.
\nShe was hailed as the next tech visionary on magazine covers and collected mountains of investors\u2019 cash, but it all collapsed after Wall Street Journal reporting revealed the machines did not work as promised.
\nProsecutors spent 11 weeks presenting over two dozen witnesses, as they painstakingly laid out their argument that Holmes knew her technology fell short, and deliberately misled investors and patients.
\nShe personally put the logos of pharma giants Pfizer and Schering-Plough onto Theranos reports hailing the company\u2019s blood-testing technology, which were then shared with investors.
\nThat was done without the firms\u2019 permissions, and
\nwas a key piece of the prosecution\u2019s argument that she purposely tried to inflate Theranos\u2019s credibility in order to win backers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington Fallen US biotech star Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on Monday of defrauding investors in her blood-testing startup Theranos, in a high-profile case seen as an indictment of Silicon Valley culture. Holmes is a rare example of a tech exec being brought to book over a company flaming out, in a sector littered with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-236866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n