Elizabeth Holmes is an American businesswoman who is the founder and former CEO of Theranos, a now-defunct health technology company. Holmes founded Theranos in 2003, and the company claimed to have developed a revolutionary blood testing device that could run multiple tests with just a few drops of blood.
However, in 2015, an investigation by The Wall Street Journal alleged that the company’s technology was not as advanced as claimed, and in 2018, Holmes and Theranos’ former president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were charged with “massive fraud” by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Holmes settled the charges with the SEC, and in 2020, she and Balwani were indicted on multiple counts of fraud by a federal grand jury. In 2021, Holmes was found guilty of fraud and is facing up to 20 years in prison.
