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Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors—not patients—in connection with Theranos. In January 2022, a jury found her guilty of one conspiracy count and three wire-fraud counts involving investors, acquitted her on the patient-related counts it decided, and deadlocked on three other investor counts. She was sentenced to 135 months in prison and three years of supervised release; a later order imposed $452,047,268 in restitution jointly with Sunny Balwani. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the convictions, sentence and restitution order.
What was Elizabeth Holmes convicted of?
Holmes was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud against investors and three counts of wire fraud involving investors. She was not convicted of defrauding patients. That distinction is central to understanding the verdict: the jury returned different outcomes for investor-related and patient-related charges in the same trial.
The case concerned what Holmes and Theranos represented about the company’s blood-testing technology and business. The prosecution’s allegations, the trial evidence described by the appellate court, and the jury’s verdict are related but not interchangeable: allegations describe what the government claimed, evidence is what the court record discusses, and the verdict identifies the charges on which the jury found Holmes guilty or not guilty.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsThe Ninth Circuit, in its factual summary, characterized the achievements Holmes and Balwani touted as “half-truths and outright lies.” That is the appellate court’s characterization in its opinion, not a quotation from the jury’s verdict. The court later affirmed the convictions, sentence and restitution order.
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What did Theranos claim its technology could do?
Theranos promoted blood testing that could use small samples and its own technology. The investor-fraud case examined whether claims about the capabilities, accuracy and reliability of that technology—and about the company’s finances and business relationships—gave investors a misleading picture of the company.
The evidence described by the Ninth Circuit was not simply a dispute over whether a particular machine could perform a test. It included questions about how much testing Theranos’s own analyzer actually performed, whether its results were dependable, what equipment was used for patient testing, and whether claimed commercial validation and revenue prospects matched the company’s circumstances. The court’s opinion also recounts employee testimony about quality-control and accuracy problems with the Edison analyzer and reliability concerns raised to management.
What evidence did the case examine?
The appellate record describes several connected categories of investor-facing claims. Taken together, they addressed both the laboratory technology and the state of the business Theranos was asking investors to support.
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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →| Issue | What was represented or alleged | What the record described |
|---|---|---|
| Testing technology | Claims about the breadth and capabilities of Theranos’s blood-testing technology. | The Ninth Circuit recounts employee testimony about Edison quality-control and accuracy problems and reliability concerns raised with management. Of 300 small-sample assays developed during Holmes’s time at Theranos, only 12 were ever run on Edison. |
| Testing equipment | Representations that Theranos technology was central to its patient-testing work. | The appellate opinion says Edison was the only Theranos-developed device used to test patient samples, while other tests ran on machines manufactured by third parties. |
| Company finances | Investor claims about expected revenue and when the company would break even. | The government’s case summary says investors were told Theranos expected more than $100 million in revenue and to break even in 2014, followed by about $1 billion in 2015, while the company knew it expected negligible or modest revenues in those years. |
| Commercial relationships and validation | Claims involving Walgreens, the U.S. military and purported pharmaceutical-company validation. | The Ninth Circuit’s account identifies these relationships and validation claims as subjects of the investor-misrepresentation evidence. |
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The figures and descriptions in this table come from different parts of the record and should be read with their attribution in mind. In particular, the revenue projections and the contrast with the company’s expected revenues are described in the government’s case summary. For the technology evidence, the Ninth Circuit opinion recounts the trial record, including the Edison’s role and the 12-of-300 assay figure.
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The 12-assay figure is useful because it gives a concrete measure of the gap between the breadth of small-sample assays developed and the number ever run on Edison. It does not, by itself, describe the performance of every assay or establish what every investor was told. The court’s account places it alongside employee testimony about the analyzer and evidence concerning third-party devices.
Similarly, the business claims mattered alongside the technology claims. Investors were not only evaluating a laboratory instrument; they were evaluating a company’s prospects, expected revenues and commercial relationships. The government’s account of the projections therefore speaks to the investment case presented to investors, while the appellate record identifies Walgreens, military work and pharmaceutical validation among the topics the evidence addressed.
Which charges did the jury decide—and what was the mixed verdict?
The jury convicted Holmes on four counts, acquitted her on four patient-related counts, and did not reach verdicts on three other investor counts. One additional patient wire-fraud count was dismissed during trial. The U.S. Attorney’s Office case summary and the Ninth Circuit’s opinion set out the count structure and results.
| Count or counts | Subject | Outcome for Holmes |
|---|---|---|
| Count 1 | Conspiracy to commit wire fraud against investors | Guilty |
| Counts 6–8 | Wire fraud involving three investors | Guilty |
| Count 2 | Conspiracy to commit wire fraud involving patients | Acquitted |
| Counts 10–12 | Wire fraud involving patients | Acquitted |
| Count 9 | Patient-related wire-fraud charge | Dismissed during trial |
| Counts 3–5 | Wire fraud involving three other investors | Jury did not reach verdicts; court later dismissed the counts |
The government had charged Holmes and Balwani with two conspiracies and ten wire-fraud counts. The count-by-count disposition matters because shorthand descriptions such as “Holmes was convicted of defrauding patients” or “the jury convicted her on all charges” are inaccurate. The patient conspiracy and patient wire-fraud counts on which the jury returned verdicts ended in acquittals; a separate patient count was dismissed. The three unresolved investor counts were not acquittals: the jury did not reach verdicts, and those counts were later dismissed.
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The four convictions were limited to the investor conspiracy and wire fraud involving three investors. The record’s discussion of patient testing can help explain the technology and business evidence, but it does not change which charges produced convictions.
What sentence did Holmes receive?
On November 18, 2022, the district court sentenced Holmes to 135 months in prison—11 years and three months—and three years of supervised release. The court assessed no fine. She was ordered to surrender on April 27, 2023. The district court’s sentencing order is the source for sentencing findings, including a loss figure that should not be confused with restitution.
In that order, the court found that the loss in the case could reasonably be found to be $120,146,247. That figure is a sentencing loss finding from 2023. It is not the restitution amount ultimately ordered, and the two figures describe different determinations in different proceedings.
How much restitution was ordered?
In May 2023, the court ordered Holmes and Balwani to pay $452,047,268 in restitution jointly and severally to named investor victims and Safeway and Walgreens. “Jointly and severally” means that the obligation is shared: the recipients may seek the full amount from either responsible defendant, rather than being limited to collecting a predetermined half from each. Any payment is applied to the shared obligation, not multiplied into two separate $452 million awards.
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Restitution is also distinct from the prison sentence and the sentencing loss finding. The 135-month term is the prison sentence; $120,146,247 is the loss figure the sentencing order said could reasonably be found; $452,047,268 is the later restitution obligation. They should not be presented as alternative estimates of one number.
Did Holmes appeal, and what happened?
Yes. In February 2025, the Ninth Circuit affirmed Holmes’s convictions, sentence and restitution order. After rehearing was denied, the court issued an amended and superseding opinion on December 22, 2025, reaffirming that result. The Ninth Circuit’s opinion provides the appellate court’s account of the evidence and its ruling.
That appellate decision means the convictions and sentence remained affirmed in the later proceedings described in the available data. It did not convert the patient-count acquittals into convictions: the appeal concerned the affirmed criminal judgment, whose count outcomes remained distinct.
What was the later HHS exclusion?
In 2026, the HHS Departmental Appeals Board upheld a 90-year exclusion barring Holmes from participation in federal health-care programs. This was an administrative action tied to the connection between her felony fraud conviction and health-care services—not a new criminal conviction, a new jury verdict about patients, or a reversal of the patient-related acquittals.
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The distinction is important because the underlying case involved a health-care company and evidence about patient testing, while the jury’s convictions were investor-related. The Board proceeding addressed eligibility to participate in federal programs under an administrative process. Its decision restated the affirmed criminal judgment and restitution obligation; it did not alter the jury’s count-by-count verdict. See the HHS Departmental Appeals Board decision.
What is the clearest way to summarize the case?
Holmes’s criminal conviction was for investor fraud arising from claims about Theranos’s technology and business—not a conviction on the patient-related charges. The evidence described in the appellate record covered analyzer performance, the use of third-party machines, revenue projections and business relationships. The jury returned a mixed verdict; the court imposed a prison sentence and later restitution, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed those outcomes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the case called wire fraud if it involved blood tests?
The charges concerned alleged fraud against investors carried out through wire communications, rather than a charge defined simply by the type of product Theranos sold. The technology claims were part of the evidence about what investors were told.
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Balwani was Holmes’s co-defendant, but his sentence is a separate judgment and is not the subject of the figures in this article. The restitution order described here made both defendants jointly and severally liable.
Does the 90-year HHS exclusion mean Holmes received another prison sentence?
No. The exclusion is an administrative restriction on participation in federal health-care programs, not incarceration. It is separate from the criminal sentence imposed by the district court.
What does a jury failing to reach a verdict mean?
It means jurors did not unanimously resolve those counts during the trial. It is not the same as a not-guilty verdict, which is why the three unresolved investor counts should be distinguished from the patient counts on which Holmes was acquitted.
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