Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes found guilty in landmark Silicon Valley fraud case

SAN JOSE — A federal jury found Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes guilty on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud against investors Monday, in the most high-profile test of whether Silicon Valley’s “fake it until you make it” ethos could withstand legal scrutiny.

The decision — delivered by a jury of eight men and four women after seven days of deliberations — cements what multiple media investigations, podcasts and documentaries have highlighted over the past six years: that Holmes knowingly misled investors about her company’s blood-testing technology. It was a landmark conviction in one of the few prosecutions of a tech executive during Silicon Valley’s rise to global dominance. The jury convicted Holmes of four counts related to interactions with investors, marking a big win for the government’s years-long probe into the entrepreneur. However, Holmes was acquitted on four counts related to patients, and the jury was deadlocked on three other counts related to defrauding investors.