Now a mother of two, former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes wants to delay prison term pending appeal
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, now a mother of two, is asking for her 11-year sentence for felony fraud to be delayed so she can stay home with her two young children while she appeals her conviction.
In November 2022, Holmes was sentenced to 135 months in prison for defrauding investors in a failed Silicon Valley startup that tried to revolutionize blood testing. At the time, Holmes, 39, was the mother of a one-year-old son and pregnant with another child.
She now has “two very young children … her toddler and an infant,” according to a recent court filing. In an appeal filed Feb. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Holmes’ request to remain free did not say when Holmes is having her second child.
The motion for release said Holmes is not a flight risk and is “very motivated to continue to comply with the conditions of her release so she can work with her attorneys as they pursue her appeal.”
When he sentenced Holmes, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila pushed her report date to prison in Byron, Texas, to April 27, so she could give birth to her second child before going to prison.
A hearing is scheduled for March 17 on her request to stay out of jail pending her appeal.
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The feds argue that Elizabeth Holmes is a flight risk
In court documents, federal prosecutors have said Holmes is a flight risk. They cite a one-way plane ticket to Mexico that she booked for Jan. 26, 2022, three weeks after she was indicted on four counts of fraud and conspiracy. Holmes canceled the trip only after prosecutors contacted Holmes’ lawyers about the “unauthorized flight,” prosecutors said.
Holmes said in a recent court filing that she had planned to attend a close friend’s wedding in Mexico and was immediately canceled when the government raised the issue.
In 2003, Holmes dropped out of Stanford University at the age of 19 to start a medical diagnostics company. Theranos’ mission: a blood test that requires only a pinprick of blood, enough to run dozens of medical tests on the startup’s high-tech machines.
The company grew to a valuation of more than $9 billion, employing more than 800 employees—attracting investors such as Oracle founder Larry Ellison; Rupert Murdoch, billionaire media mogul; and the Walton family, who founded Walmart.
But the charges allege that Holmes and his colleague and former romantic partner, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, lied about the technology, the company’s finances and its partnerships with the Department of Defense and Walgreens.
Balwani, who was convicted of 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison, also wants to remain free amid appeals.
Holmes was convicted of four counts of felony fraud involving losses to victims of at least $120 million. Prosecutors said total damages exceeded $800 million.
Contributed by: Associated Press
Follow Mike Snyder on Twitter: @mikesnider.
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