Elizabeth Holmes, the fraudulent founder of Theranos, has been denied a delay in the start of her prison sentence by a federal judge, which is set to begin on April 27.
She had hoped to remain out of prison while awaiting an appeal ruling, but the district court judge who presided over her trial, Edward Davila, ruled that she had failed to raise a substantial question of law or fact that would result in a reversal or a new trial on all counts.
Holmes was convicted last January on four counts of investor fraud and conspiracy while leading Theranos, which claimed to provide accurate information from tests using just a few drops of blood.
The verdict followed a four-month trial that detailed Holmes’ rise from a Stanford University dropout in 2003 to a star business leader on the cover of Fortune magazine a little more than a decade later.
However, the company’s downfall began in 2015 amid investigations from journalists and regulators over its faulty product, leading Forbes to downgrade its assessment of Holmes’ net worth from $4.5 billion to $0.
Facing charges of massive fraud from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Holmes agreed to forfeit control of Theranos in 2018.
Holmes was sentenced to 135 months, or 11 1/4 years in prison in November, falling short of the maximum possible punishment for her, who faced up to 20 years.
In her motion to remain out of prison, Holmes challenged court findings regarding the accuracy and reliability of Theranos’ blood testing machines, as well as the court’s refusal to admit previous testimony from Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, her former romantic partner and the former chief operating officer and president of Theranos. Davila, however, ruled that such challenges, even if granted, were unlikely to result in a reversal of the conviction or a new trial.
Meanwhile, Balwani, who was originally set to enter incarceration on March 16 in Atlanta, Georgia, has been granted a change in prison location and must report to California’s Terminal Island prison on April 20, facing a nearly 13-year sentence after being convicted of 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy.
Add comment