After losing her quest to remain free while appealing her convictions, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is expected to surrender to prison before the end of the month. Holmes was found guilty of cheating investors in her blood testing startup and received a sentence of more than 11 years in jail.
On Monday, a federal court ruled that Holmes’ appeal would be thrown out because she had not provided sufficient evidence. On April 27th, she will report to prison. Holmes claimed she would bring up “substantial questions” that might lead to a new trial being granted.
Her legal team argued that she should be allowed to take care of her two young children, one of whom was born just this year. But in the Monday ruling, US District Judge Edward Davila said Holmes had not demonstrated her appeal will result in a new trial. He stated that Ms. Holmes’s false statements to Theranos’s investors went beyond the question of whether or not the company’s purported blood-testing technology actually worked as advertised.
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Meanwhile, during her trial, prosecutors claimed Holmes posed a flight risk since she had purchased a one-way ticket to Mexico. The defense for Homes claimed that she and her boyfriend Billy Evans were counting on acquittal so that they could go to a wedding.
Judge Davila ruled that the defendant made an “ill-advised” decision to buy plane tickets, but that this did not represent an intent to leave. The failure to immediately cancel overseas travel plans following a guilty conviction is a dangerously negligent omission, he said. “Booking international travel plans for a criminal defendant in anticipation of a complete defense victory is a bold move,” he said.
Elizabeth Holmes: Theranos founder’s bid to remain out of prison on appeal denied https://t.co/XWlR4r4p1m
— Alexis Keenan (@alexiskweed) April 11, 2023
At one point, Holmes was touted as the “next Steve Jobs” and the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. She founded Theranos after leaving Stanford University, but the company collapsed in 2018 after its flawed technology became public knowledge. The blood-testing equipment was supposed to perform a battery of tests using only a microliter of blood.
The company’s infamous downfall was chronicled in a TV series, an HBO documentary, and a podcast. Holmes, who was found guilty of four counts of fraud in January, expressed “deep pain” for people who fell victim to the scheme and testified as much in court.
She is set to make one more plea to remain free throughout the appeals process – which could take at least a year – to a San Francisco, based court that she has requested to overturn her conviction. The BBC has reached out to Holmes’ attorneys for comment. Last year, Holmes’s ex-business partner, Sunny Balwani, was given a nearly 13-year prison sentence for fraud.
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