Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO of scam company Theranos, has lost her offer to stay free in her multimillion-dollar mansion while awaiting her appeal. The loss came on Tuesday and less than 24 hours later, Judge Edward Davila ordered Holmes to report to jail no later than 2 p.m. local time on May 30. She is to serve her 11 years and 3 months sentence in a minimum security facility in Bryan, Texas. She also lost a money bid, with the same judge ordering Holmes and former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to pay $452 million in restitution to the victims of their fraud.
Holmes was the founder of a blood testing company called Theranos that promised breakthrough blood testing technology that didn’t do what it claimed to do. Even though Holmes and Balwani were aware of the ineffectiveness of blood testing technology, they continued to fundraise based on misrepresentation – that is, fraud.
Ultimately, Holmes was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud against specific investors. Holmes was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison. Balwani was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison and began his sentence in April.
Holmes has two young children, the first born just before her fraud trial began in 2021, she was pregnant with her second during the trial and was born shortly after her conviction. If she thought being a mother would save her from going to prison, she was wrong. And selfish. Now her children will grow up without a mother for up to 11 years.
Enjoy the prison, princess! No black turtlenecks there.
Ed. Note (Karoli): Holmes is serving more time for defrauding the wealthy than are the insurgents who tried to overthrow the country. Justice, I guess.