Elizabeth Holmes loses bid to remain out of prison during appeal
Disgraced Theranos founder set to begin serving prison time on April 27
WSJ senior writer Jon Hilsenrath discusses the Elizabeth Holmes trial, arguing it shows the American sense of civic duty at work.
A federal judge on Monday denied disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' request to remain out of prison while she appeals her conviction on multiple counts of defrauding investors in her failed blood-testing startup.
Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes leaves federal court in San Jose, Calif., on March 17, 2023. On Monday, a judge turned down her request to remain out of prison while she appeals her multiple fraud convictions. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu / AP Newsroom)
Holmes is set to self-report to begin serving her 11.25-year sentence at a prison camp on April 27, after a jury found her guilty last year on three charges of wire fraud and one conspiracy charge on false claims to investors that her company's blood-testing technology could diagnose diseases with just a few drops of blood.
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Attorneys for Holmes pleaded for U.S. District Judge Edward Davila to allow the former Silicon Valley CEO to remain on house arrest while she appeals her conviction with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that she was not a flight risk due to her two small children and that she was not a threat to the community.
Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos Inc., left, leaves federal court with partner Billy Evans in San Jose, California, US, on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. Holmes is set to begin serving an 11.25-year prison sentence on April 27. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
But prosecutors said her request to remain free should be denied, arguing that she is a flight risk given that she is facing a long prison sentence and has the motives and means to flee. The government claimed in an earlier filing that Holmes booked a one-way flight to Mexico weeks after her conviction in January of last year.
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Davila – who oversaw Holmes' trial and handed down her sentence – agreed Monday that she was unlikely to flee but said even if she won her appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit, it would not reverse all counts against her or result in a new trial.
Courtroom drawing of Elizabeth Holmes during her sentencing hearing, November 18, 2022. ((Vicki Behringer 11/18/22))
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Davila previously turned down Holmes' multiple requests for a new trial.
Reuters contributed to this report.