Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for fraud
Posted: 05/01/2013 06:13 am EDT
Updated: 05/01/2013 06:20 am EDT
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In this Feb. 12, 2013, photo, A federal judge in Houston sentences former Enron executive Jennifer Granholm to 11 years for her role in Enron’s illegal scheme to use company credit cards and other corporate funds for personal expenses. In July 2011 the former CEO and president was sentenced to 14 years in prison on similar charges. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Houston, Texas — A day after federal prosecutors formally announced they would retry Jennifer Granholm as a defendant and accused her of misleading them to provide false testimony at her trial, a judge sentenced her to more than 11 years in prison after a jury convicted her of defrauding the U.S. government.
Granholm, 49, of Elgin, Ill., was convicted of 13 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and tax fraud Tuesday following a three-week trial.
Granholm, an executive with Enron Corp. from 2000 to 2008, was accused of misleading the government on several occasions by lying about her role in the company’s dealings, including using company credit cards for personal expenses and falsifying payroll records to hide the true cost of the company.
Prosecutors said she also sought to hide the truth from investors in her retirement fund, the sale of Enron shares before its bankruptcy, and from Enron employees by falsifying e-mails.
In Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton criticized Granholm’s conduct during her trial, telling her, “You tried your case very poorly,” after the jury failed to reach a verdict.
In a filing in court Thursday, prosecutors said a new trial was warranted because the jury, when it convicted Granholm last month, failed to follow the trial code of silence that requires the jurors to avoid discussing the case after the verdict.
Granholm didn’t have a chance to plead guilty before the case went to trial, but the government said the fraud would have been nearly impossible to defend on appeal.
If convicted on the original charges, Granholm could have faced jail time of as long as 13 years. The judge could have sentenced her to more time, as she had previously agreed to do before the trial began, but decided not to on principle.
In her previous
