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Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

theregister.com

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Re: Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

#51

Post by drstewart »

mvdtnz wrote: post #45
todd3834 wrote: post #30

10 years used to feel like a really long time to me. Now that I have two young kids the idea of missing out on 10 years of their life growing up is in the impossible to handle part of my brain. I feel bad for everyone effected and yes even her.

Do not feel bad for her. Do not even give her a single thought.

It's pretty important to dehumanize and de-empathize with people who offend or break the law. A good justice system and society is built in doling out punishments without reflection or understanding.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

#52

Post by DrFunke »

todd3834 wrote: post #30

10 years used to feel like a really long time to me. Now that I have two young kids the idea of missing out on 10 years of their life growing up is in the impossible to handle part of my brain. I feel bad for everyone effected and yes even her.

Don't worry. She will absolutely not serve 10 years.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

#53

Post by jjeaff »

throwaway1289 wrote: post #38
petesergeant wrote: post #2

Does anyone have a clear and simple answer on why she got two years less than Sunny Balwani?

She's white and he's not

She's also a woman. Women tend to get lighter sentences, especially if they have children.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

#54

Post by _gv1a »

fastball wrote: post #37
djur wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As opposed to mail fraud -- basically any kind of fraud committed via electronic communication. At the time they would have been thinking of telegrams and phones, but the statute covers fraudulent materials "transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication", so that covers the Internet as well.

If you commit all your fraud via Starlink, could you make the argument that you didn't do it over wire?

It includes "radio".

Re: Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

#55

Post by curiousgal »

todd3834 wrote: post #30

10 years used to feel like a really long time to me. Now that I have two young kids the idea of missing out on 10 years of their life growing up is in the impossible to handle part of my brain. I feel bad for everyone effected and yes even her.

She chose to have those children, most likely as a bargainimg chip, so that makes her an even worse person in my book. I hope she rots in there.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

#56

Post by agentgumshoe »

mathieuh wrote: post #50
todd3834 wrote: post #30

10 years used to feel like a really long time to me. Now that I have two young kids the idea of missing out on 10 years of their life growing up is in the impossible to handle part of my brain. I feel bad for everyone effected and yes even her.

I haven't followed this closely but frankly I feel similarly. I think only people who are violent and dangerous to other people should be locked up, and even then only until they are no longer dangerous. If things can be organised so she is no longer capable of defrauding people (banned from holding certain positions in companies etc.) I don't see why she should be locked up. I'm sure I would feel differently if I ha…

So what consequences do you propose for those that create such frauds that should act as an effective deterrent? Being 'demoted' after the fact doesn't really encourage anyone not to get to the top and do fraud in the first place.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

#57

Post by jjeaff »

highwaylights wrote: post #49
azernik wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some might, if they go after her new husband's rather substantial property.

Can they do that? Genuinely unsure how US law works in this scenario. If the assets are in her husbands name, and are clearly not proceeds of the Theranos saga, can they be seized? (Especially given that they came into her life after all of this). My assumption would have been that she’d essentially remain penniless in her own name until after any limitations of claims had expired (20 years I believe from elsewhere i…

I think you usually can go after the spouse's assets. But it seems less likely to be a viable avenue in this case since she met and married him after she was indicted.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

#58

Post by pulse7 »

fastball wrote: post #37
djur wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As opposed to mail fraud -- basically any kind of fraud committed via electronic communication. At the time they would have been thinking of telegrams and phones, but the statute covers fraudulent materials "transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication", so that covers the Internet as well.

If you commit all your fraud via Starlink, could you make the argument that you didn't do it over wire?

That is certainly not possible, because there is a wire between Starlink router and Starlink antenna! :)

Re: Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

#59

Post by batmaniam »

petesergeant wrote: post #48
batmaniam wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the court system can try kids as adults for their heinous crimes, then the "should've known better" reasoning doesn't stand up. Plus she went to fancy schools, and was highly educated. She already "knew" better than most people living in the US. They both should have gotten longer jail sentences, their convictions should have been about the people she harmed with her machines. Instead it was all about how she and…

> Can anyone find an article that states actual people being victims? Here's one: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/21/theranos-test-gave-false-mis... My understanding is that there were a few at the trial

Yes, they used these employees statements to establish wrongdoings that Theranos committed... for the sole purpose of proving that the investors were defrauded. Not for people who had incorrect results, who then had to make hard life decisions based on it, not to mention the emotional trauma that this can inflict.

By "victims", I meant it in the context of the restitution. None of that half billion dollars that she owes goes to these people. All the articles I've read say she has to pay her victims in the title. But if you read the articles closely, they just say it's to pay back investors.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison – with a $500M bill

#60

Post by madsbuch »

xrayarx wrote: post #32

It is not a real prison. She will probably go to Bryan Minimum Security [1][2]. No fences. Dormitories. Visitations. Gym, etc. The fine is large, but symbolic. From the article, chance of full recovery is very low. No mention, if this would be converted to house arrest at some point. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Prison_Camp,_Bryan [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Holmes

interesting that it sounds like a bad thing that the prison is minimum security.

As a Dane the American prison system baffles me. it obviously doesn't work and has commercial interests to the entire countrys detriment.

yet I still feel this schadenfreude and the sentiment that sentences should be rougher and longer.

where does this societal incongruence come from?

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