False HIV results, miscarriage, and cancer diagnosis—the Theranos patients Elizabeth Holmes was found not guilty of defrauding

Nicole Goodkind

On Monday, Elizabeth Holmes, the 37-year-old founder of the failed blood testing company Theranos, <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/01/03/elizabeth-holmes-trial-future/">was found guilty of defrauding investors</a>, ending the months-long trial and years-long downfall of the former tech titan. <div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



The tale that was woven around Holmes has already been auctioned off and will soon be presented to America in two competing films in which Holmes—played by Jennifer Lawrence and Amanda Seyfried—will likely become the poster child for greed and corruption in Silicon Valley. A Jordan Belfort gone west.&nbsp;



Those films will get their grand conclusion, with a jury of eight men and four women convicting Holmes of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud by lying to investors to raise money. Sentencing will likely take place next week; Holmes is expected to appeal the verdict.&nbsp;



But the consumers who used the health-testing services provided by Theranos won’t get the ending they had hoped for. Holmes was found not guilty on three charges of defrauding patients and one charge of conspiracy to defraud patients.



Brittany Gould, a patient who took the stand during Elizabeth Holmes’s trial, testified that a Theranos blood test revealed <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/21/theranos-test-gave-false-miscarriage-diagnosis-witness-testifies.html">she was having a miscarriage when, in fact, she had a healthy pregnancy</a>. As a result of the false positive, she changed the medication she was taking, which could have harmed the fetus. (She eventually gave birth to a healthy baby.) 



Another patient who testified, Erin Tompkins, said she received a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/17/theranos-patient-says-blood-test-came-back-with-false-positive-for-hiv.html">false positive HIV antibody result</a> after taking a Theranos test at a Walgreens in Arizona. “I was quite emotional at the time,” Tompkins told jurors.&nbsp;



Steve Hammons, a retired marketer from Peoria, Ariz., <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-patients-hurt-by-theranos-1476973026">learned in October 2016</a> that Theranos had corrected a September 2015 test showing his blood taking more than six times longer than normal to clot. As a result he was told by his doctor to stop taking his blood thinner, warfarin, and switch to a less potent medicine. He received his corrected results only after the Wall Street Journal inquired about them. 



Arizona was the primary testing ground for Theranos products and services in 2013 when it started rolling out its faulty technology at Walgreens stores across Phoenix. About 40 Theranos Wellness Centers eventually opened in the area, along with a laboratory at Arizona State University&#8217;s SkySong office complex in Scottsdale.



Between 2013 and 2016, <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/health/2017/04/18/theranos-reaches-465-million-settlement-arizona-blood-testing/100582618/">Theranos sold</a> more than 1.5 million blood tests that yielded 7.8 million test results for 175,940 Arizona consumers, and more than 10% of all test results were later voided or corrected.&nbsp;



“If someone lost their job, or someone thought they had a disease when they didn&#8217;t, or they should have gotten treatment when they didn&#8217;t because of a false test, that’s heartbreaking. It&#8217;s wrong,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich told Fortune. “Elizabeth Holmes needs to spend as much time in prison as possible for what she did to people.”



In 2017, Brnovich negotiated a $4.65 million consumer-fraud settlement with Theranos for those who had purchased Theranos tests at Arizona retail locations. 



“Elizabeth Holmes was a con artist. In Silicon Valley, you often get folks that fake it till they make it and have a different sense of reality, and there&#8217;s a certain amount of hubris and arrogance,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But no matter who you are or where you come from or who your powerful friends are or how wealthy you may be, I’m going to hold you accountable. I made sure that Arizona consumers were protected, but I can’t control what other entities do.” 



Brnovich, a Republican, told Fortune that elected officials in his state were too eager to “roll out the red carpet” for Holmes and put their constituents at risk through products that hadn&#8217;t been properly assessed. Monday&#8217;s verdict sends a strong message, he said, not only to potential investors but also to politicians who invite tech companies to use their states as testing grounds for their latest innovations.&nbsp;



“What history has shown us is that there are always folks out there, from Bernie Madoff to Elizabeth Holmes, who will try to take advantage of folks and prey on their greed or their vulnerabilities.”&nbsp;



If sentenced, Holmes will be the most notable female executive to go to prison for fraud since Martha Stewart, who served time for lying to investigators about a stock sale, in 2004.&nbsp;



Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison for each of her convictions.&nbsp;</div>

More than 10% of all Theranos test results for 176,000 Arizona consumers were later voided or corrected.

Elizabeth Holmes fraud verdict is only a partial win for patients

Never miss a story: <a href="https://fortune.com/my-favorites/">Follow your favorite topics and authors</a> to get a personalized email with the journalism that matters most to you.

F-BreakingNews

Elizabeth Holmes

Health

Tech

Elizabeth Holmes fraud verdict is only a partial win for patients | Fortune

Carolyn Barber

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends U.S. President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

RFK Jr. touts vitamin A and cod liver oil as another death is reported in growing measles outbreak. Health experts warn the move is ‘misleading the public’

/well/article/rfk-jr-measles-vaccine-vitamin-a-misinformation/

Ani Freedman

Just one simple dietary change could help you fight back against cancer and heart disease

/well/article/diet-change-fight-cancer-heart-disease-risk/

The workout routine that leaves this 82-year-old fitness instructor feeling like he’s 50

/well/article/workout-strength-aging-longevity-older-adults/

Mike Stobbe

The Associated Press

‘Read this email immediately’: CDC calls 180 employees back to work 2 weeks after firing them

/well/2025/03/05/cdc-calls-180-employees-back-to-work-2-weeks-after-firing-them/

Beth Greenfield

Middle aged woman dressed in white looking into a full-length mirror

Eating disorders in middle age are ‘way more common than people think,’ says expert. 3 women share their stories

/well/article/eating-disorders-midlife-women-menopause-shame-secrecy/

A woman prepares a meal in her kitchen while using a laptop

I tried the American Cancer Society’s new cancer risk assessment. Here’s what I learned

/well/article/cancer-risk-prevention-assessment/

Emma Burleigh

MrBeast is the world's top YouTuber with an $85 million empire—but he says the average person 'would be miserable' living his life

https://fortune.com/2025/03/06/mrbeast-youtube-empire-miserable-ceo-stress/?itm_source=parsely-api

Greg McKenna

The architect of Trump’s first tax cuts says the plan to scoop out overtime pay and Social Security from taxes is 'very expensive' but tips are feasible

https://fortune.com/2025/03/06/architect-trump-first-round-tax-cuts-plan-exempt-overtime-social-security-taxes/?itm_source=parsely-api

Irina Ivanova

Elon Musk's DOGE slapped a $1 limit on government credit cards and now workers say they can’t do their jobs

https://fortune.com/2025/03/05/doge-federal-credit-card-elon-musk/?itm_source=parsely-api

Luisa Beltran

As JPMorgan Chase enforces a 5-day RTO, staffers complain about too few desks, spotty Wi-Fi, and sneezing, sick coworkers

https://fortune.com/2025/03/06/jpmorgan-chase-jamie-dimon-union-rto-wall-street/?itm_source=parsely-api

Stuart Dyos

Elon Musk's offer to bring home stranded astronauts never reached the space station, say NASA astronauts who are still in orbit after 9 months

https://fortune.com/2025/03/06/elon-musk-spacex-nasa-astronauts-stranded-iss-boeing-starliner-barry-wilmore-sunita-williams/?itm_source=parsely-api

Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak lays into Elon Musk’s ‘mass firings’: ‘I don’t know what got into his head’

https://fortune.com/2025/03/06/apple-cofounder-steve-wozniak-lays-into-elon-musks-mass-firings-i-dont-know-what-got-into-his-head/?itm_source=parsely-api