Elizabeth Holmes: who is Sunny Balwani’s ex-girlfriend and former Theranos CEO - when will she be sentenced?

Elizabeth Holmes is facing a maximum of 20 years behind bars after being found guilty of defrauding investors.

The founder and former CEO of Theranos Inc was once tipped by Silicon Valley to be the next Steve Jobs.

But allthat has come crashing down after suspicions were raised about the company’s Edison blood testing devices.

Her ex-boyfriend and right-hand man at Theranos Sunny Balwani has also been found guilty of defrauding investors and patients on 8 July 2022.

The business-savvy teenager dropped out of university aged 19 to start up a blood testing business, which at its peak was worth $10 billion.

She is now facing a potentially lenghty spell in jail after being convicted in a high profile trial in California at the start of 2022.

So who is Elizabeth Holmes and when will she be sentenced?

Who is Elizabeth Holmes?

Ex-businesswoman Holmes was born in 1984 in Washington DC and grew up in Houston, Texas.

In her teenage years, she developed a keen interest in computer programming and later joined Stanford University in 2002 where she studied chemical engineering.

She went on to work at Genome Institute of Singapore at a laboratory where she tested for a type of coronavirus through blood samples - via syringes.

At just 19 years old, the Stanford University student had dropped out of education to set up a blood testing startup firm, Theranos Inc, which has been at the centre of a high profile court case.

What is the Theranos scandal and why was the founder charged with fraud? 

Holmes claimed her revolutionary way of testing blood from a finger prick would be faster and cheaper than traditional laboratories.

With a few drops of blood, Theranos promised that its Edison test could detect 240 conditions.

It was claimed that without the use of a needle diseases such as cancer, cholesterol and diabetes among others could be quickly detected; claims which were revealed to be allegedly largely fabricated.

A 2015 article in the Wall Street Journal revealed the revolutionary technology promoted by Theranos Inc didn’t work.

By 2018 the company she had founded collapsed - with investors such as media tycoon Rupert Murdoch reportedly losing £120 million, the BBC has reported.

Prosecutors allege that Holmes also misled doctors and patients.

Now Holmes is facing 20 years in prison over 12 charges of fraud against her.

When did she go on trial? 

The 37-year-old, who was dubbed the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire by Forbes, faced a trial in California in 2021.

It started on 31 August last year and lasted until December.

Holmes had pleaded not guilty to all counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Was she found guilty?

On January 3 2022, the jury returned their verdict in the trial of United States v. Elizabeth A. Holmes, et al.

Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty on four counts of defrauding investors – three counts of wire fraud, and one of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

She was found not guilty on four counts of defrauding patients – three counts of wire fraud and one of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The jury also returned a “no verdict” decision on three counts of wire fraud against investors - resulting in the judge declaring a mistrial on those counts.

When will she be sentenced and how long could she be jailed for?

Holmes is currently awaiting sentencing following the guilty verdicts.

She is “at liberty” on a $500,000 bail.

The sentencing is scheduled to take place on September 26 this year.

Holmes faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution, for each count of wire fraud and for each conspiracy count.

The sentences will likely be served concurrently, meaning she could be jailed for a maximum of 20 years.

Who is she married to and does she have a baby?

Holmes reportedly got married in a secret wedding ceremony to hotel management heir William ‘Billy’ Evans in 2019.

Twenty-seven-year-old Evans is the heir to Evans Hotel Group chain of hotels in California.

The two were reportedly first spotted together out in public in August 2018 at Burning Man, the art festival in the Nevada desert - days before Theranos shut down.

Recently, the pair welcomed their first child William Holmes Evans, who was born on July 10, 2021.

His arrival came just weeks before her trial for fraud was scheduled to begin, according to birth records obtained by ABC News.