Verdict on Fraud in Silicon Valley

Boardroom Governance Newsletter #23 | Jan 18, 2022

Sketch by Vicky Behringer. A verdict is returned in the Elizabeth Holmes trial. Jan. 3, 2022.

“That’s a crime on Main Street and it’s a crime in Silicon Valley,” Robert Leach, an assistant U.S. attorney, said in opening statements at the trial’s start. “She chose fraud over business failure” said Prosecutor Jeff Schenk in closing arguments. “That choice was not only callous, it was criminal.”

Three years after Elizabeth Holmes was charged with 11 counts of fraud, a jury of eight men and four women took 50 hours over seven days of deliberations to reach a verdict, convicting her of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud relating to the scheme to defraud investors, including wire transfers totaling more than $140 million. The jury acquitted Holmes of the patient-related conspiracy wire fraud count and three additional wire fraud counts.  One count of wire fraud relating to a Theranos patient was dismissed during the trial.  The jury could not reach a u…