Elizabeth Holmes, the Silicon Valley start-up founder convicted of fraud this month, will be sentenced on Sept. 26, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
Ms. Holmes, who was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count. She is expected to appeal the verdict, and the court ordered any “post-trial motions” to be filed by March 4.
The length of time before the sentencing will allow prosecutors to handle a trial against Ms. Holmes’s alleged co-conspirator, Ramesh Balwani, an earlier court filing said. Mr. Balwani, also known as Sunny, was the chief operating officer of Theranos, the start-up that Ms. Holmes founded in 2003 and that she claimed would revolutionize health care with highly advanced blood tests. The blood tests ultimately did not work as advertised.
The U.S. government also said in a filing on Tuesday that it would dismiss three of its fraud charges against Ms. Holmes after a jury failed to reach a verdict on them.
Ms. Holmes, 37, was found guilty of lying to investors about Theranos’s abilities so she could raise money for the company. Jurors acquitted her on four fraud charges related to patients who took Theranos’s blood tests. They deadlocked on three additional counts related to investments in the company.
Her trial, which began in September, became a high-profile spectacle that was viewed as a referendum on Silicon Valley’s culture of hype and chutzpah.
Judge Edward J. Davila, who is overseeing the federal case in California’s Northern District, has significant discretion in sentencing Ms. Holmes. Her convictions were tied to more than $140 million in investments in Theranos, and the high dollar amount could be a factor in her sentencing, as could the message the verdict sends to others in Silicon Valley.
Judge Davila is also overseeing the trial of Mr. Balwani, who was indicted alongside Ms. Holmes on identical charges in 2018. The pair, who were business and romantic partners, had their cases severed after Ms. Holmes accused Mr. Balwani of emotional and sexual abuse. He has pleaded not guilty to fraud and has denied the abuse accusations.
Mr. Balwani’s trial has been delayed by surging coronavirus cases in the Bay Area, where the case is being heard. Jury selection is set to begin on March 9.
Until September, Ms. Holmes remains free on a $500,000 bond secured by property. During the trial, she reportedly lived on a 74-acre estate in Woodside, Calif., a wealthy Silicon Valley town, with her partner, Billy Evans, and their baby son.
