New York (CNN) Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO of Theranos convicted of investor defrauding, is trying to delay the start of her 11-year prison sentence because she has “two very young children” to be with.
The lawsuit filed last week represents the first public admission that Holmes gave birth to her second child. Holmes was pregnant at the time of her sentencing in November 2022.
Her lawyers cited several reasons for delaying jail time pending an appeal against her conviction, arguing that she does not pose a flight risk or a danger to the community. It also said she has “two young children” but did not reveal when her second child was born or their gender.
In a January indictment, prosecutors said Holmes tried to flee to Mexico.
“The government became aware on January 23, 2022 that Defendant Holmes had booked an international flight to Mexico departing January 26, 2022, with no scheduled return,” the court said. “It was only after the government raised this unauthorized flight with the defense that the trip was canceled.”
Holmes’ criminal trial was initially postponed from March 2021 to August 2021 because she was pregnant with her first child. She has been married to her husband Billy Evans since 2019.
Last year, Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors while running the failed blood test startup Theranos. The penalty also includes a $400 fine, or $100 for each count of fraud. Refund will be determined at a later date.
Holmes was ordered to take herself into custody on April 27, 2023 and is appealing her conviction. A hearing is scheduled for March 17.
Holmes started Theranos in 2003 at the age of 19 and dropped out of Stanford University soon after to pursue the company full-time. After a decade under the radar, Holmes began courting the press with claims that Theranos had invented technology that could accurately and reliably test for a range of ailments with just a few drops of blood from a finger prick.
Theranos raised $945 million from an impressive list of investors, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Walmart’s Walton family, and the billionaire family of former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. At its peak, Theranos was valued at $9 billion, making Holmes a billionaire on paper. She was praised on magazine covers and often wore a trademark black turtleneck that drew comparisons to the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
The company began to fall apart after a 2015 Wall Street Journal investigation found Theranos had performed only about a dozen of the hundreds of tests it offered using its own blood-testing device, and with questionable accuracy. Instead, Theranos relied on third-party manufactured devices from traditional blood testing companies.
Leave a Reply