Prosecutors Seek 15-Year Prison Sentence for Theranos' Elizabeth Homes, $800M Re...
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Prosecutors Seek 15-Year Prison Sentence for Theranos' Elizabeth Homes, $800M Restitution
"Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Elizabeth Holmes to 15 years in prison," reports the Guardian, "and require the Theranos founder to pay $800m in restitution, according to court documents filed on Friday."
A jury found Holmes guilty in January of four counts of investor fraud and conspiracy. Her sentencing is scheduled for 18 November, and she faces a maximum 20 years in prison. Prosecutors argued that "considering the extensiveness of Holmes's fraud", their recommended sentencing would "reflect the seriousness of the offenses, provide for just punishment for the offenses, and deter Holmes and others". Holmes's lawyer argued in documents filed on Thursday that the ex-Theranos boss should not be sentenced to prison at all and, at most, should receive 18 months of house arrest. The court filings argued that Holmes had been made a "caricature to be mocked and vilified" by the media over the years, though she is a caring mother and friend. "Ms Holmes is no danger to the public," Holmes's lawyer said in the court documents. "She has no criminal history, has a perfect pretrial services compliance record, and is described by the people who know her repeatedly as a gentle and loving person who tries to do the right thing."
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With losses in the hundreds of millions, and in the medical field where lives are on the line, the only thing in Elizabeth's favor is a lack of previous criminal record. Getting 15 out of the maximum 20 years as her sentence sounds about right. I have seen articles claiming something like 8 years is more likely though, so this could just be the prosecutors aiming high and hoping they get closer to 10-12.
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Feather handcuffs for a huge financial crime.
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She'll sentenced to only 15 years because of her "good behavior" (no previous criminal record). Ironically enough, those articles may be referring to the fact that she will probably be eligible for early release after serving a pathetic 8 years, because (you guessed it)...good behavior. Like Bizarro world double-jeopardy where you get rewarded again for doing the same thing.
With logic like this, a 14-year old virgin church choir singer who murders her parents deserves little more than probation due to her
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Lets be accurate here. The first would be good behavior prior to the events, providing for a more lenient sentencing. The second would, potentially, be early release for good behavior while in prison.
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Which is completely ridiculous. Imagine an auto company selling cars that they knew where defective and dangerous, and their defense is "Hey, what about all those millions of cars we made that DIDN'T blow up?"
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No imagination necessary; that's pretty much Ford's modus operandi. Just mix in a dose of: "If it's cheaper to pay off the families when they sue than it is to make the cars NOT explode; let the bastards burn." Yes, that's where that line in Fight Club came from. Ford's done that.
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No, after finding the article [mercurynews.com] again it was estimated that the sentencing guidelines for her crime would bring an 11-14 year sentence, but that judge Davila has a precedent of offering 30% less time for similarly large fraud cases. So that makes it about 8 years total. I believe the standard for early release for felony fraud cases is 75% of your total sentence, so with good behavior she would be out in 6 years (if I'm right about early release).
We shall see, but I haven't read any analysts who think she is
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And if that latter statement were true, I'd imagine the recidivism rate for former hard timers would be damn near zero. And yet, I'm bettin' it ain't so much.
The Incarcerated States of America is quite a demeaning reference, until you realize how accurate it is compared to the rest of a civilized world.
Doesn't matter if it's 1 year or 8 years. They're likely making money off you the whole time. Much like education, I believe for-profit is the main problem infecting that societal system now.
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Not to defend the "justice system" too much but FIFTEEN YEARS is a long time especially for basically defrauding some rich assholes. I think you might need to re-calibrate your expectations.
A 14 year-old also shouldn't get a life sentence either.
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Her shitty company put actual lives at risk..
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She didn't just bilk some rich assholes. Her bullshit tests were used for actual people's bloodwork, resulting in people either getting treatment they didn't need or skipping procedures they did need. If she hadn't actually started "selling" her tests, she could have done the normal silicon valley thing and just shrugged and said "well, we tried and it didn't work out, thanks for all your money."
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I'm not saying she's all peaches and cream, but I'm not finding accounts of actual people getting treatment or skipping procedures because of bad test results. I do see some people got false-scares about cancer markers that were cleared up with a second blood test.
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Would you suggest the parents serve instead, because that would be fucking awesome for responsible parenting to increase about ten-fold overnight...
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I hear this argument all the time, yet I seriously doubt anyone making the argument would want to be incarcerated in any prison in the US, even the supposed "Club Fed" ones, for one week, let alone eight years. And virtually every single one of the people making the argument would hate to have a Felony on their record, and find themselves unlikely to get a decently paid job with decent working conditions for the rest of their lives.
The only exception I've heard to the latter lately was Epstein, and that'
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aside from the fact that I'm generally against prison as a form of punishment, is that it's not being given out because she put people's lives at risk with test she knew were fake, it's being given out because of the amount of money involved.
Our priorities are whacked.-
sometimes you settle for whatever gets these pieces of shit locked away where they can do no harm. Capone went to jail for not paying his taxes, not because he was a vicious murdering piece of shit.
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prison is completely about punishment, it is also deterrent, If people see the only punishment for stealing millions of dollars and risking peoples lives is some community service or other soft punishments then crime rates will escalate at an insane rate.
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it should be about containment or rehabilitation. Punishment serves no purpose in a modern civilization. It's torture at that point. You're using fear to control people. We out grew that, or should have.
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Indeed. She should be up for risking death of customers. I do agree that prison does not solve anything and just provides a form of revenge.
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And who was scammed. These were not small-time investors with a few hundred dollars each - these were very high profile people (just check out who were the members of the Theranos board) who were both made to look stupid and clueless in public, and who lost many millions in the endeavor. The latter is bad, but the former is unforgivable: they will most likely want their pound of flesh.
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The US is basically coming apart fiscally because of our desire to lock everyone up. Do a bit of crack, we are paying your room and board for 20 years. It is insane. If she has assets, put her under strict probation for life. If she is as compliant as her lawyers say, she wonâ(TM)t leave here house until she dies.
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Locking up (black) weed smokers en-masse is not the same as locking up rich people engaged in white-collar crimes.
We need less of the former, and MUCH MORE of the latter.-
Prison is the wrong punishment for either. Non-violent people don't belong there. There is always a better solution.
Put an ankle tracker on Liz and assign her to change bedpans in nursing homes for 60 hours per week for the next 20 years.
Then she can benefit society instead of being a drain.
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The US has a bad history [usnews.com] with forced labor. In this case I can certainly understand the desire to have Holmes work off her debt, but forced labor of any kind has led to a long history of abuse.
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Forced labor abuse is far worse in prisons than outside prisons, so I'm not sure what your point is.
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In some prisons you can't even get a job detail. There aren't enough details available for all the prisoners. Too many prisoners, not enough people to keep an eye on them when they're on detail.
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Non-violent white-collar criminals DEFINITELY belong in prison. They're psychopaths and sociopaths that respond to nothing BUT punishment.
Non-violent criminals of other kinds (petty theft etc), but even violent criminals, can be rehabilitated without relying on incarceration-only as punishment. Psychopaths and sociopaths can't.
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Having a bit of weed for personal use isn't likely to lead to incarceration. Murder, assault, and robbery are far more common paths to prison for black people. They're significantly over represented in these crimes, also most of the victims being black.
It is a myth that prisons are full of black people who were caught with a joint. If it's cannabis then you'll find dealers and/or people convicted due to related crimes (e.g. robbery, assault).
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Put that weed in a screen box and shake some keef out of it, and you could literally wind up doing life in Oklahoma. Yes, even for personal use, the law doesn't specify. No, I'm not going to that shithole either.
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Is that actually happening enough to make a difference to the topic?
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Sure, Jan. That's what's causing the US to come apart. Nothing to do with an oligarchy that is more than happy to leave half the population living in misery. There will be fines involved with this case that likely cover her imprisonment for the 5 years she will actually serve.
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Did you even watch Wolf of Wall Street? People who smoke a joint get way harsher punishments than people who destroy hundreds of people's lives (by stealing their savings). Even when they do go to jail... It's like living at a resort.
Ethan Couch (affluenza kid) killed four people. Went to a "facility" with daily horse rides. The punishment should be inversely proportional to the amount of money you have as it is now.-
I agree.
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20 years? Even Florida, among the harshest, has a maximum of 15 years for possession. It ramps up when you're caught with enough to be dealing. Meth is similar, the threshold for a first degree felony being lower for meth.
I'd imagine most of the longer sentences are going to dealers.
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Florida? Total fucking amateurs [norml.org]. Which is true in many senses, but incredibly, also when it comes to oppression.
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Yes, most go to dealers. But there are like 200,000 people in for possession. Average cost $40,000 per inmate per year. That is $8 billion. It adds up
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How does that break out by term and type of prison (e.g. country, federal)?
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There's a plausible argument that the sentencing guidelines call for 65 years, not 20. Mitchell Epner went through the sentencing guidelines and laid out all the calculations here [substack.com] that get her to at least 43 points, which is the trigger for life. Since life isn't an option, the guidelines call for consecutive sentencing and maximum sentences.
That doesn't mean she'll get that, but the possibility is there. Prosecution is asking for 15 years, but she lied on the stand, and judges tend not to go lightly on def
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Well I am glad to read an analysis that put the estimated sentence much higher than other articles I have read. I don't think life in prison is too long for such an egregious offence, especially considering it was in the health care industry.
But if the prosecutors even thought life was a remote possibility, it seems unlikely they would only ask for 15 years. I didn't see any mention of precedent or of Davila's past sentencing history in your article though, so my guess is the analysis isn't very thorough.
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Funny how she didn't get married and have children till after her scam blew up and she was in danger of going to prison. I'm 99.999% certain that she views her children as her "get out of jail" card.
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You know who else loved children?
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She robbed rich people so she'll get a harsh sentence. Just like pharmabro Shkreli didn't get a harsh sentence for jacking up prices of essential medicine to obscene levels, he got a harsh sentence for defrauding the rich. THAT's what is unforgivable, THAT is the "true" crime.
And, of course, the crypto bros behind all the collapsing e-tulip exchanges will mostly get off with slightly-slapped wrists because they mostly rob poor people (anyone who isn't a billionaire, i.e. people who don't matter).
Unless,
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Skhreli's price hikes were immoral but not illegal. So a state under the rule of law could not send him to prison for that. If this fully applies to the USA is up for dispute, but in this case they stuck to their official principles.
Places like China or Russia might get a bit more creative in making up an offense, but do we want to be like them?Tha fraud was clearly illegal though, a sentence for that was to be expected.
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