• A U.S. appeals court has upheld Elizabeth Holmes' conviction for fraud related to her now-defunct blood-testing startup, Theranos.
• Holmes, sentenced to more than 11 years in prison, argued her trial faced numerous legal missteps.
• The court also confirmed a restitution order of $452 million to investors from both Holmes and her partner Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has confirmed the convictions of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the blood-testing startup Theranos, and her former associate Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani. The court dismissed their claims of legal errors occurring during their 2022 trials, where Holmes was found guilty of defrauding investors by misrepresenting the capabilities of her company's technology, which had been valued at $9 billion. The ruling by the three-judge panel was clear on the lack of substantial legal breaches in the preceding trials, stating that their arguments were either baseless or had not resulted in detriment to their cases. This verdict means Holmes will continue serving her sentence of 11 years and three months in a Texas federal prison, set to expire around March 2032, while Balwani's nearly 13-year sentence concludes in 2033.

Holmes, once lauded as a Silicon Valley prodigy, had claimed that Theranos had developed groundbreaking blood-testing technology capable of delivering results from just a few drops of blood. However, the technology never performed as promised, leading to an investigative unraveling of her company beginning in 2015. The ripple effects have been so profound that the incident has been portrayed through various media, including a book, a documentary, and a television series, illustrating the dramatic fall from grace of Watson's tech aspirations.

The federal appellate court also upheld a ruling requiring Holmes and Balwani to pay $452 million in restitution, arguing this reflected victims' total investments in the fraudulent scheme. Judge Jacqueline Nguyen noted in the 54-page ruling that the grand claims by Holmes and Balwani were predominantly "half-truths and outright lies." As a result of ongoing scrutiny and previous successful litigation, both have continued to seek recourse through the court, but their recent attempts only affirmed the severity of their actions.

This ongoing scandal continues to captivate public attention, reflecting the broader concerns surrounding ethics and accountability in the tech industry.

For more on the Theranos case, visit BBC.