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One entrepreneur climbed her way to becoming the youngest and richest self-made female billionaire before everything she built crumbled.
Elizabeth Holmes made her fortune by founding an innovative blood-test company which revolutionized the system.
Aged just 19, Holmes was a student at Stanford University when she launched Theranos in 2003, which was touted as a breakthrough health tech company.
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She came up with the idea for a wearable patch that was capable of adjusting the dosage of drug delivery and was able to notify doctors of any variables in the blood.
The firm claimed that it was able to conduct blood tests using compact automated devices that required very small amounts of blood.
Holmes said that she was inspired by her own fear of needles and Theranos raised over $700 million in investments. By 2013, the company was valued at a whopping $9 billion.
However, things started to take a turn when The Wall Street Journal started a secret investigation after getting a tip from a medical expert over Theranos’ blood testing device.
Despite legal and financial threats from the billionaire’s lawyer, the article was published in October 2015 which described how the device gave inaccurate results.
In 2018, both Holmes and the firm’s former president, Ramesh Balwani, were charged with fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for taking over $700 million from investors by advertising a false product.
The firm was also found to have lied about its revenue, claiming to have made $100 million in 2014 when in reality it made just $100,000.
Four years later, the health tech mogul was indicted on fraud charges and, following a trial, she was convicted of defrauding investors and acquitted of defrauding patients.
As a result, Holmes was sentenced to serve 11 and a quarter years at a federal minimum-security prison.
She was also jointly ordered with Balwani to pay $452 million in restitution to victims of the fraud.
Although proceedings were delayed due to Holmes having two children, her first in 2021 and her second in 2023, she denied it was a tactic to avoid jail time.
Speaking to People last month, she said: “I know how the optics look, but I always wanted to be a mother. I truly did not think I would ever be convicted or found guilty. I kept talking to my lawyers and they also assured me we would never get this far.
“It wasn’t planned and I can’t worry about what others think. It’s just when the timing happened.”
In May 2023, Holmes surrendered herself to custody to begin her prison sentence and she is expected to be released in 2032, after two years were knocked off for good behavior.
Her business, Theranos, is no longer running and has been dissolved.
