Elizabeth Holmes

Holmes's downfall came swiftly. In 2018, the SEC charged her and Theranos COO Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani with raising $700 million from investors through false or exaggerated claims about the accuracy of their blood-testing technology. She settled by paying a $500,000 fine, returning 18.9 million shares, giving up voting control, and accepting a ten-year ban from serving as an officer of a public company. A federal grand jury indicted her that June, and her trial ended in January 2022 with a conviction for defrauding investors, though she was acquitted on charges of defrauding patients. She was sentenced to 11 and a quarter years at Federal Prison Camp, Bryan, starting May 30, 2023.

The credibility of Theranos relied heavily on Holmes's personal connections. She recruited influential backers including Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Mattis, and Betsy DeVos, all of whom were or would become U.S. cabinet officials. Her romantic relationship with Balwani remained clandestine through most of Theranos's history, and together they ran the company with a "dysfunctional corporate culture" of secrecy and fear, according to employees. Those who raised concerns were usually marginalized or fired.

After Theranos collapsed, Holmes began dating hotel heir William "Billy" Evans. They married in 2019 and have two children, born in 2021 and 2023. She remains a deeply polarizing figure, a cautionary tale about ambition and deception.