Basing severity on dollars stolen is flawed - it should based on the percentage of the victims assets stolen. Taking $1 million fraudulently from Warren Buffett is not the same as taking it from the average pensioner.
She took money of retail investors as well. There is a podcast called "the dropout" which has featured done pretty ordinary people that lost their savings. Ok, we can judge them, just like we will judge all the nft & crypto victims, but the suffering is real.
For many (though certainly not all) of the investors victimized by Holmes, I'm not terribly sympathetic. As implied by "qualified investor", if you write such a big check, it's sort of up to you to do the homework.
I do have some sympathy for people who got Theranos tests and were mislead about their efficacy, but on the charges of defrauding patients Holmes was found not guilty! (Similarly, I have some sympathy for employees who went to work at Theranos and ended up bullied and threatened by the company, as with Tyler Schultz, but they aren't represented by any of the criminal charges!)
