San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Theranos CEO seeks leniency at sentencing
Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is casting herself as a Silicon Valley scapegoat who overcame an abusive relationship to become a loving mother in an effort to avoid a lengthy prison sentence for duping investors in her failed bloodtesting company.
In an 82-page document filed last week, Holmes’ lawyers tried to convince U.S. District Judge Edward Davila that sending Holmes to prison is unnecessary, partly because she has already been stigmatized by intense media coverage that has turned her into a “caricature to be mocked and vilified.”
If Davila decides to send her to prison, Holmes’ lawyers argued she should be sentenced to no more than 18 months — a fraction of the maximum of 20 years she is facing after being convicted on felony counts of investor fraud and conspiracy this year.
“We acknowledge that this may seem a tall order given the public perception of this case — especially when Ms. Holmes is viewed as the caricature, not the person,” the filing said.
Prosecutors asked the judge for a sentence of 15 years in prison, calling the case “one of the most substantial white collar offenses Silicon Valley or any other District has seen.”
Holmes, 38, will learn her fate this Friday in the same San Jose courtroom where her high-profile trial cast a glaring spotlight on Silicon Valley’s penchant for hype and hubris.
“She repeatedly chose lies, hype and the prospect of billions of dollars over patient safety and fair dealing with investors,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Leach wrote in a brief filed Friday.
After starting Theranos as a 19-year-old, Holmes proceeded to raise nearly $1 billion from investors swayed by what turned out to be bogus promises.
Holmes was lauded as a visionary while touting a compact device that was supposed to be able to scan for hundreds of diseases and other potential health problems with a few drops of blood taken with a finger prick. Theranos’ tests instead produced wildly unreliable results, flaws that Holmes tried to conceal until the problems were exposed in the media and regulatory audits.
Although Holmes’ convictions were limited to about $140 million of the investments in Theranos, legal experts say the magnitude of just those losses make it unlikely that her push for a relatively short prison sentence or home confinement will succeed.
Two former federal prosecutors, Duncan Levin and Amanda Kramer, told the Associated Press Holmes seems likely to get a sentence of nine years to 17 years, although both acknowledged Davila has the discretion to be more lenient.
“There is an argument to be made, particularly in white collar cases, that you don’t need a very long prison sentence to deter people who never have been in prison,” Kramer said.
Holmes’ lawyer repeatedly hammered on that point in the memo to Davila. “Ms. Holmes is no danger to the public,” the filing asserted. “She has no criminal history, has a perfect pretrial services compliance record, and is described by the people who know her repeatedly as a gentle and loving person who tries to do the right thing.”