Elizabeth Holmes asks for leniency for her Theranos crimes
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 blood-testing company.
In an 82-page document filed late Thursday, Holmes' lawyers tried to persuade 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 she 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 four felony counts of investor fraud and conspiracy earlier 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 are expected to seek a much harsher sentence when they file their own sentencing recommendations ahead of Holmes' scheduled Nov. 18 sentencing. Holmes, 38, will learn her fate in the same San Jose California, courtroom where her high-profile trial cast a glaring spotlight on Silicon Valley's penchant for hype and hubris.
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 became lionized 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...
