Jailed Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes banned for 90 years from participating in federal health programs
Yesterday, Inspector General Christi A. Grimm announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) banned Elizabeth Holmes for 90 years from participation in Federal health care programs due to her January 2022 conviction in the United States District Court, Northern District of California for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Theranos, Inc. investors.
The statutory minimum for an exclusion based on convictions like Holmes’s is five years. When certain aggravating factors are present, a longer period of exclusion is justified.
Holmes was sentenced in May 2023 to 11 years in federal prison and ordered to pay approximately $452,047,200 in restitution due to her offense resulting in a significant financial loss to entities and adverse financial impact to other individuals. Holmes founded Theranos, Inc. in 2003 and served as its CEO and Chairperson. Under her direction, Theranos claimed to have developed proprietary technology that was able to run several clinical diagnostic tests on small amounts of blood from a finger prick instead of through veinous draws.
During her trial, the government presented evidence that Holmes knew the Theranos device was never able to complete more than a small number of blood tests and the results were less accurate than traditional or conventional blood testing machines. Holmes’s false claims about Theranos induced investors to provide millions of dollars in funding and, in two instances, to develop plans to partner with the company so that the Theranos technology could be made available to provide health care services to their customers and patients.
HHS-OIG previously excluded Theranos President, Ramesh Balwani, for 90 years. Balwani was also convicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Theranos’s patients and investors.
“Accurate and dependable diagnostic testing technology is imperative to our public health infrastructure. False statements related to the reliability of these medical products can endanger the health of patients and sow distrust in our health care system,” said Inspector General Christi A. Grimm.
“As technology evolves, so do our efforts to safeguard the health and safety of patients, and HHS-OIG will continue to use its exclusion authority to protect the public from bad actors.
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(Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services / Office of Inspector General)
(Elizabeth Holmes cover photo, Image credit: Twitter)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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