After losing her effort to remain free while appealing her convictions, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes will report to prison at the end of the month.
Holmes was found guilty of cheating investors in her blood testing startup and received a sentence of more than 11 years in jail.
On Monday, a federal court ruled that Holmes had not shown she would succeed in overturning her conviction through the appeals process.
On April 27th, she will report to prison.
Holmes claimed she would bring up “substantial questions” that could result in a new trial being granted to her client. Her legal team claimed that she should keep her freedom so she could take care of her two young children, one of whom was born just this year.
- The prison experience Holmes is desperate to avoid
- Theranos founder attempted to flee the US – prosecutors
US District Judge Edward Davila issued his judgment on Monday, finding that Holmes had not shown that her appeal will lead to a new trial.
Ms. Holmes’ misrepresentations to Theranos investors encompassed more than merely whether Theranos technology performed as promised, he said, contradicting her claim that accuracy and reliability were major considerations in her beliefs.
Meanwhile, during her trial, prosecutors claimed Holmes posed a flight risk since she had purchased a one-way ticket to Mexico.
Homes’ lawyers testified that their client and her boyfriend Billy Evans had planned to attend a wedding if Homes were found not guilty.
Judge Davila ruled that the defendant made an “ill-advised” decision to buy the plane tickets, but that this action did not constitute an attempt to run.
He warned that international travel plans made in anticipation of a total defense triumph were risky and should be canceled as soon as possible once a guilty decision was reached.
Next Steve Jobs
There was a time when Holmes was called the “next Steve Jobs” and claimed to be the youngest-ever self-made billionaire.
She founded Theranos after leaving Stanford University, but the company collapsed in 2018 after its flawed technology became public knowledge. It was claimed that with just a few drops of blood, the blood-testing equipment could perform a wide range of tests.
Multiple media outlets covered the historic demise of the corporation, including a TV series, an HBO documentary, and a podcast.
In court, Holmes expressed “deep pain” for the victims of the swindle, for whom she was convicted guilty of four counts of fraud in January.
She has requested a court in San Francisco to overturn her conviction, and she will likely try one more time to remain free during the appeals process, which may take at least a year.
The BBC has contacted Holmes’s legal team for comment.
Last year, Holmes’s former business partner, Sunny Balwani, was given a nearly 13-year prison sentence for fraud.
