2023-05-30 20:54:00
Elizabeth Holmes, sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for fraud at the head of the start-up Theranos, began serving her sentence in a Texas prison on Tuesday, according to AFP.
Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of TheranosFoto: Nic Coury / AP / Profimedia
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) confirmed to AFP that the former entrepreneur has arrived at the federal prison in Bryan, Texas, as observed by journalists.
In January 2022, following a four-month trial, Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of fraud in connection with fundraising for Theranos, which claimed it might revolutionize the world of medical diagnostics.
She tried several remedies to avoid prison pending a possible appeal in hopes of overturning his conviction, but these were rejected.
At the age of 39, twenty years following founding the start-up, she is now behind bars in a “minimum” security women’s facility.
According to the BOP website, this type of prison has dormitories, a small number of guards and rehabilitation programs.
“Miracle tests” from a drop of blood
Theranos promised faster and cheaper diagnoses than traditional labs thanks to methods it touted as revolutionary, allowing multiple tests to be performed with a very small amount of blood.
But the technology never worked as promised, and the company closed its doors in 2018, hurting investors who had pumped several hundred million dollars into the company’s capital.
Elizabeth Holmes has always defended her good faith, denying that she knowingly sought to defraud investors.
In mid-May, Judge Edward Davila ordered her and former Theranos chief operating officer Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to jointly repay $452 million to investors.
Among them is Rupert Murdoch, to whom the two former partners owe $125 million.
In an interview with the New York Times, published in early May, Elizabeth Holmes explained that even before the damages, she was unable to pay her legal expenses, which the prosecution estimated at more than 30 million USD.
“I’m going to have to work for the rest of my life to pay them off,” she said.
The media reported that she married Billy Evans, whose family owns a hotel chain, in 2019 and has two young children.
Holmes’ story fascinated the American press because before her downfall she embodied a certain image of the innovative Silicon Valley.
In 2014, Forbes estimated Holmes’ fortune at $4.5 billion and described her as the youngest non-inherited female billionaire.
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