Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ prosecutor says fraudster’s case offers warning to Silicon Valley leaders

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Elizabeth Holmes verdict is a ‘wake-up call’ for Silicon Valley: Legal analyst

Fox News senior correspondent Claudia Cowan discusses the verdict from the federal courthouse in San Jose, California.

The prosecutor behind Elizabeth Holmes’ guilty verdict said the entrepreneur’s fall from Silicon Valley’s cover girl to a felon serves as a cautionary tale. 

Former federal prosecutor John Bostic played a pivotal role in putting Holmes behind bars and is cautioning other entrepreneurs against following the lead of the Theranos founder’s disgraced career. 

“The economy benefits from an active ecosystem of tech startups and investors,” Bostic, who now works as a partner at the global law firm Cooley, told Fox News Digital. 

“Investors need to approach even the most hyped investments with a dose of skepticism, and founders need to be vigilant in painting an accurate picture of their companies. That goes double in highly regulated industries like life sciences.”

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Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos Inc., arrives at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan, Texas, May 30, 2023.  (Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Holmes swindled investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars by falsely claiming her company had invented a device that could run complex medical tests with just a single drop of blood.

In November 2022, Holmes was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of fraud and conspiracy and was ordered to pay $452 million in restitution to her victims. 

“There are things I would have done differently,” Holmes, 41, said in an interview with People. “I refused to plead guilty to crimes I did not commit. Theranos failed. But failure is not fraud.”

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Despite her conviction, Holmes maintains she is innocent and was not influenced by greed, which Bostic said is irrelevant in the eyes of the law. 

“A fraud case almost always comes down to a defendant’s intent,” Bostic said. “Even if the evidence shows that a defendant said something untrue, the prosecution’s job is only half done. They still need to prove that the defendant actually intended to deceive and cheat someone.”

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes arrives at a federal courthouse accompanied by partner Billy Evans, in San Jose, Calif., March 17, 2023. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)

Holmes’ trial revealed that while Theranos was not a sham, her claims were. 

“The jury heard from multiple investors who gave similar accounts of how the false things they heard from Holmes persuaded them to invest,” Bostic told Fox News Digital. “And, critically, former employees testified about the true situation at Theranos and what Holmes knew.”

Earlier this year, a federal appeals court upheld Holmes’s conviction, dashing her hopes of being released from prison. Holmes and former business partner Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani claimed legal errors were made during their trials after the court allowed some witness testimony but denied others. 

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Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos Inc., arrives at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan, Texas, May 30, 2023. (Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

While in prison, the mother of two is permitted to visit with her partner, Billy Evans, and their two children, Holmes said. She gave birth to her oldest child shortly before her trial began and delivered her second child three months before her prison sentence began. 

“I always wanted to be a mother,” Holmes told People. “I truly did not think I would ever be convicted or found guilty.” 

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Holmes is being held at Federal Prison Camp Byran in Bryan, Texas, and is scheduled to be released March 19, 2032. Upon release, she hopes to continue working in the healthcare and technology industries. 

“It kills me to put my family through pain the way I do,” Holmes said. “But when I look back on my life, and these angels that have come into it, I can get through anything. It makes me want to fight for all of it.”

Mollie Markowitz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Julia Bonavita is a Fox News Digital Production Assistant for Photo and Video, and a Fox Flight Team drone pilot. You can follow her at @juliabonavita13 on all platforms.