Why Did Elizabeth Holmes Go to Prison?

Tyler Shultz says Elizabeth Holmes went to prison because she told investors Theranos had already built a device, that every test was done on a finger prick, that every test was done on a Theranos product, and that no test was run on third-party equipment. The device they had built could not perform the tests and was hurting people. They were knowingly giving people incorrect medical information with a device that could only test for one thing at a time and could not test for that one thing accurately.

The accurate description was that they were working on a device that theoretically could have done anything. If she had gone to investors and said they were working on building a device that could theoretically one day test for anything, raising $900 million on that claim would have been fine. The device she described had not been built. She also let people believe Theranos had completed the chemistries for 12 tests out of hundreds or a thousand, and even that part was not true.