Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for scamming investors in her blood-testing start-up, which was once valued at $9 billion (£7.5 billion).
The former Silicon Valley star stated erroneously that the device could diagnose sickness with just a few droplets of blood.
Holmes, 38, who is pregnant, sobbed in court as she felt “great sadness” for victims who had been duped by the hoax.
After a three-month trial, she was found guilty in January.
Holmes is anticipated to file an appeal against the sentence, which was handed out in a California court on Friday.
She was once dubbed the “next Steve Jobs” and was supposed to be the world’s youngest self-made billionaire.
She founded Theranos after dropping out of Stanford University at the age of 19, and its worth skyrocketed as the business claimed it might revolutionize disease diagnosis.
However, the technology Holmes promoted did not operate, and the company was liquidated in 2018 due to a slew of lawsuits.
Elizabeth Holmes went from being a tech celebrity to being a convicted fraudster.
Prosecutors alleged at Holmes’ trial in San Jose, California, that she willfully misled doctors and patients about Theranos’ flagship product, the Edison machine, which the firm claimed could diagnose cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses with just a few drops of blood.
They also accused Holmes of lying to the firm’s financial backers about its performance.
Jurors eventually convicted her guilty of four counts of fraud, with a possible jail sentence of 20 years. However, they found her not guilty of four additional offenses and were unable to decide on three more.
Before Judge Edward Davila handed down his sentence on Friday, Holmes delivered a heartfelt apology to investors and patients.
