Pregnant Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos founder, jailed for fraud

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Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has been sentenced to over 11 years in prison for defrauding investors in her blood testing start-up that was once valued at $9bn . She falsely claimed the technology could diagnose disease with just a few drops of blood.

38 years old Holmes who is pregnant, tearfully told the court she felt "deep pain" for those misled by the scam. She was found guilty in January after a three-month trial.

Holmes launched Theranos after dropping out of Stanford University at age 19, and its value rose sharply after the company claimed it could bring about a revolution in the diagnosal of disease. But the technology Holmes touted did not work and - awash in lawsuits - the company was dissolved by 2018.

Before Judge Edward Davila issued his sentence on Friday, Holmes read a speech to the court in which she tearfully apologized to investors and patients. She said, “I am devastated by my failings. I have felt deep pain for what people went through, because I failed them. I regret my failings with every cell of my body.”

She is required to surrender to begin serving her sentence on 27 April. Her partner Billy Evans, in his sentencing memo to the court, told the judge that he fears for "a future in which my son grows up with a relationship with his mother on the other side of glass armed by guards".