Elizabeth Holmes convicted of fraud

[TimFox]

Prison hypnosis:  was there a Hammer horror movie with that plot element?

[magic]

Hypnosis

The Victimhood Olympics continues...

[MrMobodies]

Still it takes away the most important aspect of life: freedom.
Freedom of movement, but don't forget freedom of choice as what to eat, what to watch, what to spent time on etc. etc. Even in a cell with a toilet, tv, etc. you will suffer from the loss of choice, or loss of control over your body and live.

https://nypost.com/2023/06/08/theranos-fraudster-elizabeth-holmes-cries-during-first-prison-visit-with-husband-billy-evans-parents/

Distraught Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes was spotted crying throughout a seven-hour reunion with her family last weekend – less than a week after she reported to federal prison in Texas to begin serving her 11-year sentence.

An emotional Holmes, 39, was photographed sitting at a picnic table and walking the grounds in her prison-issued uniform during the meeting with her husband, William Evans, and her parents, Christian and Noel, at Federal Prison Camp Bryan near Houston last Saturday.

Holmes was “visibly shaken” and “crying during much of the visit,” according to the Daily Mail, which first obtained photos of the visit.


One picture showed Holmes walking alongside Evans and clinging to one of his fingers – an embrace that appeared to violate the prison’s policy against prolonged physical contact.

The report said that Evans and Holmes’ mother “appeared equally upset” during the trip, while her father was more “stoic.”

Holmes is allowed one visit per week.

I didn't know there would be a loss of touch too seeing how lenient that prison is.

[SiliconWizard]

Hypnosis

The Victimhood Olympics continues...

Great stuff!
I found more fun to think about the whole prison part of the story as the chapter of a movie with the song I hinted earlier as soundtrack. If anyone gets the reference (to the song!)

[MrMobodies]

[EEVblog]

Still it takes away the most important aspect of life: freedom.
Freedom of movement, but don't forget freedom of choice as what to eat, what to watch, what to spent time on etc. etc. Even in a cell with a toilet, tv, etc. you will suffer from the loss of choice, or loss of control over your body and live.

https://nypost.com/2023/06/08/theranos-fraudster-elizabeth-holmes-cries-during-first-prison-visit-with-husband-billy-evans-parents/

Wow, 7 hour outing in the nice gardens with your family. Doing it tough.

[MrMobodies]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12191137/Elizabeth-Holmes-attorneys-say-afford-250-month-restitution-payments.html

Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes says she can't afford $250-a-month restitution payments to pay back $452 MILLION she scammed when she's released from Texas prison in 11 years
Holmes' attorneys said she has 'limited financial resources' and should not be put on a restitution payment schedule

By SOPHIE MANN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 20:24, 13 June 2023 | UPDATED: 03:07, 14 June 2023

An attorney for Holmes argued before a judge she has 'limited financial resources' and should not be made to pay $250 a month in restitution once she is released.

Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes has said she will not be able to afford $250-per-month in restitution payments when she's released from prison in 11 years.
...
Federal prosecutors say there was a clerical error in a court filing that resulted in no official post-prison payment schedule for Holmes.

The judge ordered Balwani to pay $25 quarterly while in prison, and at least $1,000, or at least 10 percent of his earnings, once he is released.

Holmes' legal team have not objected to $25 quarterly payments while she serves her time, but say prosecutors should not assume the failure of the judge to assign a post-prison payment schedule was a mistake.

Her lawyers, on Monday, sought to reject the correction proposed by prosecutors, arguing that the court had 'substantial evidence showing Ms. Holmes' limited financial resources and has appropriately treated Ms. Holmes and Mr. Balwani differently in sentencing.' In a lengthy New York Times profile last month, Holmes said she was unable to pay her legal bills, let alone restitution.

Rubbish. I thought that was what what her new family is for, giving her money and support.

That would be interesting to see how she'll pay her legal bill at the end of it.

Correct me if you think I am wrong. I don't know much about legal aid in America and whether Elzabeth Holmes is being represented by a free court appointed lawyer or is paying for one.

If she is paying for it say some fancy "star" lawyer, why would they defend her knowing that she can't afford them unless they were appointed?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_aid_in_the_United_States

Legal aid in the United States
Legal aid in the United States is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system in the United States. In the US, legal aid provisions are different for criminal law and civil law. Criminal legal aid with legal representation is guaranteed to defendants under criminal prosecution (related to the charges) who cannot afford to hire an attorney. Civil legal aid is not guaranteed under federal law, but is provided by a variety of public interest law firms and community legal clinics for free (pro bono) or at reduced cost.[1] Other forms of civil legal aid are available through federally-funded legal services, pro bono lawyers, and private volunteers

https://www.lawfuel.com/law-star-kevin-downey-elizabeth-holmes-lawyer/

Law Star Kevin Downey – Elizabeth Holmes’ Lawyer
/ Law Stars - LawFuel's Leading Lawyers Profiles / January 5, 2022

Kevin Downey, a partner at the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly, is the lead lawyer for Holmes. Robert Leach, an assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of California, will lead the prosecution for the government, along with other prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office.

Holmes, a Stanford University dropout who founded Theranos in 2003 and raised $945 million from investors, was indicted on fraud charges in 2018. Her case has been plagued for years by delays: first over process, then the pandemic and finally, Ms. Holmes’s giving birth to a baby in August. She faced her high profile trial during the latter states of 2021 when she was found guilty on some of the charges levelled against her.

Education: Harvard Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 1991; Editor, Harvard Law Review Dartmouth College, A.B., magna cum laude, 1988; Phi Beta Kappa
Career:

Served in a clerkship to Judge Edward R. Becker, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1991 – 1992

Honors/Awards Recognized for years for excellence in the practice of law by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation, Super Lawyers, and Washingtonian Magazine. Most recently he was in the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America,” Benchmark Litigation, 2021-2022

Personal – Kevin Downey grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1988 where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he served as an Editor of the Harvard Law Review.
...
Professional –
The Elizabeth Holmes fraud trial placed Kevin Downey in the headlines, but he has been used to handling a variety of high profile civil and criminal law trials in the course of his career, most of which has been spent with the prestigious DC law firm Williams & Connolly, which he joined in 2000 and serves on the firm’s executive committee.

He has represented several Fortune 100 companies and some of the nation’s largest law firms in the course of his career. He has also represented dozens of corporate executives over many years and in relation to a variety of cases and claims, including the current and former CEOs of several Fortune 25 companies. He has also represented current and former government officials, including Cabinet members and has served as lead counsel and tried cases in federal and state courts and agencies across the country, as well as matters in arbitration.

His legal work has also seen him represent clients who are subject to investigation by committees of both Houses of the United States Congress.  The Holmes trial, which saw the jury return four counts of guilty out of 11 charges, certainly placed him in the headlines and although not by any means a flamboyant publicity-seeker, Kevin Downey has cemented his reputation as one of the country’s leading trial attorneys.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/08/technology/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-trial-defense.html#:~:text=Kevin Downey, a partner at,from the U.S. attorney's office.

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and the president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers, said the pace of Ms. Holmes’s trial was sluggish. It is unusual to wait more than a week between the end of testimony and the start of closing arguments, he said.

“It’s one of the slowest trials I’ve ever heard of,” he said
....
Earlier in the trial, during testimony from 29 witnesses called by prosecutors, Ms. Holmes’s lawyers sought to poke holes and create confusion around the facts of the case. They attacked the credibility of investors, trying to show that they should have done better research on Theranos before investing to understand the risks and the details of its business. And * they tried to argue that patients who testified that they had received troubling blood test results * from Theranos were not qualified to interpret them.

Sounds very fancy to me. He seem like very "good" proactive lawyer at causing delays/"playing games" in court considering if they are not appointed and are representing her for free out of their own free will.

*Some went to other health centers to make sure according to a documentary I saw so they wouldn't interpret ir themselves. Sounds to me deliberately out of touch and pretty nasty.

So because they are deemed "not qualified" to interpret their own test results they have no right to be concerned and have retests at other clinics and contest the results if they are different.

[floobydust]

She's just playing broke. The $4.5B peak-worth of hers has some big breadcrumbs stashed away somewhere.
I read she's at $30M in legal fees. That last mansion was "rented" for $13,500/mo. She's got cash. Sometimes I wondering if she's bought this cushy "prison" as other people with far smaller crimes i.e. shoplifting are in the hard Fed prisons for the same sentence times. Makes no sense.
It would be worth following her money because that will have a crook's tale, as she's surely laundered it and bought favouritism.

People got false test results for cancer, herpes, HIV, miscarriages and of course the client database was deleted. All-round scumbag moves made by her and Balwani.

Psychopaths have command over dishing out extreme charm and charisma, which is used to manipulate people. Research papers called it "spellbound" and perhaps hypnotic might fit.
It's actually quite impressive if you've ever experienced it, up until the part where they want something from you, at your expense. Then you realize it's just them gaming.

[EEVblog]

She's just playing broke. The $4.5B peak-worth of hers has some big breadcrumbs stashed away somewhere.
I read she's at $30M in legal fees. That last mansion was "rented" for $13,500/mo. She's got cash.

I believe her husband is pretty wealthy?

[james_s]

She's just playing broke. The $4.5B peak-worth of hers has some big breadcrumbs stashed away somewhere.
I read she's at $30M in legal fees. That last mansion was "rented" for $13,500/mo. She's got cash.

I believe her husband is pretty wealthy?

I wonder what the terms of their marriage are? Maybe there is an ironclad prenup? It seems idiotic to marry into a situation where he could be liable for the costs of her legal troubles.

[SiliconWizard]

Still it takes away the most important aspect of life: freedom.
Freedom of movement, but don't forget freedom of choice as what to eat, what to watch, what to spent time on etc. etc. Even in a cell with a toilet, tv, etc. you will suffer from the loss of choice, or loss of control over your body and live.

https://nypost.com/2023/06/08/theranos-fraudster-elizabeth-holmes-cries-during-first-prison-visit-with-husband-billy-evans-parents/

Wow, 7 hour outing in the nice gardens with your family. Doing it tough.

Time isn't present in that dimension.

[MrMobodies]

I wonder what the terms of their marriage are? Maybe there is an ironclad prenup? It seems idiotic to marry into a situation where he could be liable for the costs of her legal troubles.
...
* Sometimes I wondering if she's bought this cushy "prison"

The $4.5B peak-worth of hers has some big breadcrumbs stashed away somewhere.

What if she enticed her new husband or *brought him over with the promise of many more millions hidden away somewhere where the legal fee's maybe nothing much compared to it.

[james_s]

What if she enticed her new husband or *brought him over with the promise of many more millions hidden away somewhere where the legal fee's maybe nothing much compared to it.

If he was dumb enough to fall for that then I don't feel sorry for him. I'm convinced that she has a cluster B personality disorder, she will discard him like a candy wrapper as soon as he is no longer useful to her.

[SiliconWizard]

Memories...



Fortune, which was a complicit in this whole debacle for many, many years, constantly pushing her to the front without ever questioning anything.

[TimFox]

Elizabeth Holmes says she cannot afford to pay back victims.
$250/month after eventual release for her share of $452m in restitution to 14 investors.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65905923

[Sal Ammoniac]

She's been in the can for less than two months and the government has already reduced her sentence by two years, making her new release date December 29, 2032.

[Black Phoenix]

Don't worry, before you realize you will read a news saying that it is next month.

[MrMobodies]

https://www.darkdaily.com/2024/02/09/federal-government-bans-elizabeth-holmes-from-participating-in-government-health-programs-for-90-years/

Federal Government Bans Elizabeth Holmes from Participating in Government Health Programs for 90 Years
Feb 9, 2024 —Kristin Althea O’Connor

Theranos founder and former CEO continues down the path she began by defrauding her investors and lying to clinical laboratory leaders about her technology’s capabilities

In the latest from the Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos scandal, the federal government has banned Holmes from participating in government health programs for 90 years, according to a statement from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Many clinical laboratory leaders may find this a fitting next chapter in her story.

As a result of the ban, Holmes is “barred from receiving payments from federal health programs for services or products, which significantly restricts her ability to work in the healthcare sector,” ARS Technica reported. So, Holmes, who is 39-years old, is basically banned for life. This is in addition to her 11-year prison sentence which was paired with $452,047,200 in restitution.

“The exclusion was announced by Inspector General Christi Grimm of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General,” ARS Technica noted, adding that HHS-OIG also “excluded former Theranos President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani from federal health programs for 90 years.” This is on top of the almost 13-year-long prison sentence he is serving for fraud.

“The Health and Human Services Department can exclude anyone convicted of certain felonies from Medicare, Medicaid, and Pentagon health programs,” STAT reported. 

Inspector General Christi Grimm “Accurate and dependable diagnostic testing technology is imperative to our public health infrastructure,” said in an HHS-OIG statement. “As technology evolves, so do our efforts to safeguard the health and safety of patients, and HHS-OIG will continue to use its exclusion authority to protect the public from bad actors.” Observant clinical laboratory leaders will recognize this as yet another episode in the Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos fraud saga they’ve been following for years. (Photo copyright: HHS-OIG.)

Why the Ban?

“The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cited Holmes’ 2022 conviction for fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud as the reason for her ban,” The Hill reported.

“False statements related to the reliability of these medical products can endanger the health of patients and sow distrust in our healthcare system,” Grimm stated in the HHS-OIG statement, which noted, “The statutory minimum for an exclusion based on convictions like Holmes’ is five years.

“When certain aggravating factors are present, a longer period of exclusion is justified,” the statement continued. “The length of Holmes’ exclusion is based on the application of several aggravating factors, including the length of time the acts were committed, incarceration, and the amount of restitution ordered to be paid.”

Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Holmes

Readers of Dark Daily’s e-briefs covering the Holmes/Theranos fraud saga will recall details on Holmes’ journey from mega success to her current state of incarceration for defrauding her investors. In November 2022, she was handed an 11-year prison sentence for not disclosing that Theranos’ innovative blood testing technology, Edison, was producing flawed and false results. Theranos had “raised hundreds of millions of dollars, named prominent former US officials to its board, and explored a partnership with the US military to use its tests on the battlefield,” STAT reported. To get Holmes physically into prison was a journey unto itself. At one point, evidence showed her as a potential flight risk. “In the same court filings, prosecutors said Holmes and her partner, William Evans, bought one-way tickets to Mexico in December 2021, a fact confirmed by her lawyers,” Dark Daily’s sister publication The Dark Report revealed in “Elizabeth Holmes’ Appeal Questions Competence of CLIA Lab Director.”

Drama around her move into prison continued. “The former CEO’s attorneys are making last-minute legal moves to delay her prison sentence while she appeals her guilty verdict,” Dark Daily reported. At the same time, Holmes appeared to be on a mission to revamp her public image.

“On May 7, The New York Times profiled Holmes in a massive, 5,000-word story that attempted to portray her as a flawed businessperson who now prefers a simpler life with her partner and two young children,” Dark Daily reported in “Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes Fights Prison Sentence While Claiming She Was ‘Not Being Authentic’ with Public Image.”

In the Times piece, Holmes talked about her plans to continue to pursue a life in healthcare. “In the story, Holmes contended that she still thinks about contributing to the clinical laboratory field. Holmes told The Times that she still works on healthcare-related inventions and will continue to do so if she reports to prison,” The Dark Report covered in “Elizabeth Holmes Still Wants ‘To Contribute’ in Healthcare.” In the meantime, her legal fees continued to mount beyond her ability to pay. “Holmes’ prior cadre of lawyers quit after she could not compensate them, The Times reported,” The Dark Report noted. “One pre-sentencing report by the government put her legal fees at more than $30 million,” according to The New York Times.

Apparently, this closes the latest chapter in the never-ending saga of Elizabeth Holmes’ fall from grace and ultimate conviction for defrauding her investors and lying to healthcare executives, pathologists, and clinical laboratory leaders.

Well that sounds like some good news but 90 years where she'd be retired or dead past 1/3 of it.
There is a term in England called a "whole life order" but that is just jail with no possibility of release.

[SiliconWizard]

Damn, 90 years is a long time. I like US justice.

[Kjelt]

Damn, 90 years is a long time. I like US justice.

In this case perhaps but overall they have to do better, worst wrongful conviction ratio in the western world.

[PlainName]

Unless you're happy for readers to think you just knocked that quote up in Word or something, and are prepared for the deluge of copies showing other favourite places are actually the worst, it's best to quote your source.

[ebastler]

In this case perhaps but overall they have to do better, worst wrongful conviction ratio in the western world.

You do understand the difference between "most wrongful convictions" and "most wrongful conviction research"? 
Whoever produced the Q&A you quoted apparently did not, and you seem to have misread it as well.

[floobydust]

It's not a flat legal system- expensive lawyers do better for their clients, getting them off the hook.

Even with convictions, the point I find interesting is that prison is largely ineffective. Recidivism statistics are abysmal for non-violent crimes. We've talked about it before, I forgot the conclusion.
"... About 68 percent of 405,000 prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within three years of their release from prison, and 77 percent were arrested within five years, and by year nine that number reaches 83 percent."

[tszaboo]

It's not a flat legal system- expensive lawyers do better for their clients, getting them off the hook.

Even with convictions, the point I find interesting is that prison is largely ineffective. Recidivism statistics are abysmal for non-violent crimes. We've talked about it before, I forgot the conclusion.
"... About 68 percent of 405,000 prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within three years of their release from prison, and 77 percent were arrested within five years, and by year nine that number reaches 83 percent."

Or that the sentence is too short:
https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/research-publications/2022/20220621_Recidivsm-SentLength.pdf
And this study only goes to 10 years. There are countries in Europe where you get 25 years (not reduceable) for repeated (3) violent crime, by default, no consideration by the judge possible.
And somehow the homicide rate is 1/8th of the USA's.

[PlainName]

Doesn't the US suffer from excessive plea bargains? Someone might be innocent, but given the choice between coughing and taking a year, or being done for 20+ years in maximum security if you fight it, you gotta be real sure you're going to win. And have the funds to put your side.