Tim Draper has continued to defend her and maintain that Theranos was legitimate, and some big-name VCs appear to have gotten more comfortable cutting big checks to possible frauds. I suspect she'll have an opportunity to commit a similar crime if she's so inclined.

How he's not been taken legally out of circulation for his involvement is amazing.

A lot of other frauds seem to be more about creating an aura of wonder and a cult of personality that people invest in, and they are smart enough not to make specific claims. For example, "you'll be in on the ground floor of this rocket" is entirely metaphorical if there is no floor and no rocket. "The Army is using this machine on the battlefield with Med-Evac teams" is a potentially fraudulent statement without a lot of nuance, and you can't walk it back by saying what you mean is that someone you were talking to in the DOD mentioned the finished product could be useful for them.

> She’s suffered huge and profound consequences for her actions.

Like what? Life seems to have gone on as normal for her, other than having to make a bunch of court appearances.

Even found herself a spouse to have 2 kids with while on her journey through the criminal court system. Actually kind of impressive.

Another important aspect of a sentence is scaring off. When she gets 18 months, scamming people out of 1.4 billion dollar suddenly becomes a lot more attractive. Well, for attractive, innocent looking women at least.

> If I had to come up with “fair” sentencing criteria, it would be “what’s the least restrictive way we can make sure this person doesn’t pose a danger to society and people are discouraged from similar acts.”

This is a bad take imo. There's also a need for punishments to deter future misconduct by others.

If I, as a hypothetical startup founder, know that I can defraud my investors (among other things!) at the risk of just an embarrassing trial, I am much more likely to engage in fraud than if I risk GOING TO FEDERAL PRISON.

I'm generally not a huge fan of incarceration. But in the case of those whose crimes are premeditated and serious -- and who had every advantage growing up -- I think some prison time is appropriate.

Sorry I wasn’t clear. I had said:

> “what’s the least restrictive way we can make sure … people are discouraged from similar acts.”

But I really should have broken it into two sentences or a list.

> She’s suffered huge and profound consequences for her actions.

Such as? Any financial and reputational damage she's suffered just put her back on the same level as us mere mortals. Indeed, she's still able to afford the expensive legal team that's litigating these appeals. Something most of us couldn't do.

Agreed, but the part where we discourage similar act is very related to the prison time she will do. Anything else will not discourage other people to scam, because worst case scenario you just loose reputation and money, but best case scenario you are a billionaire.

Given how bad those scams are for society, it's the discouraging is very important, and a strong message should be sent.

How many people do you think harsher sentences would make a deterrent difference for?

The number of tech CEOs is small. Of those, what percent do you think would be ok With fraud if it were only 18 months years in prison? What is the change if it were >18 months?

Are any choices being changed at all?

I think it is basic misunderstanding of the human mind.

I have family in the third world. They routinely pick something akin to "go to prison for X months" (AKA work as crew on a wretched, poor conditions merchant ship) for what in their country looks like a fat stash of money.

Based on these observations I'm quite certain the length of time makes a difference. I'm quite certain that the ones that stomach several months would not be willing to be gone for 10x that. There's a reason why even in desperate wars soldiers are allowed to return to families at least once a year or so.

> She’s suffered huge and profound consequences for her actions.

She hasn't even been sentenced yet! You're only saying this because she's a pretty woman. You're not saying it about Sunny Balwani.

"She’s suffered huge and profound consequences for her actions."

She actually conned a very rich sucker into marrying her and having a child with her so she is set for life.