Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes ordered to begin 11-year prison sentence May 30

Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will remain free through the US Memorial Day weekend before surrendering to authorities on May 30 to begin serving more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors in a blood test scam.

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila set a modified prison reporting date for Holmes after his attorney proposed it in a Wednesday filing. It comes after a federal appeals court last Tuesday rejected Holmes’ bid to stay out of prison as he tries to overturn his January 2022 conviction on four counts of fraud and conspiracy.

The judgment also includes a US$452 million restitution bill that Davila ordered Holmes to pay in a separate decision issued late Tuesday.

Holmes’ attorney asked Davila to approve a May 30 prison reporting deadline to give him two weeks to resolve several issues, including child custody for his one-year-old son William and three-month-old daughter Invicta. Holmes was originally ordered to begin his prison sentence on April 27, but won a reprieve with a last-minute legal maneuver that gave him more time with his children.

Holmes, 39, became pregnant with William shortly before the start of the high-profile trial in September 2021 and became pregnant with Invicta soon after she was found guilty of the crime which carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

The father of the two children is William “Billy” Evans, who met after breaking up with his former romantic and business partner, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who began serving a nearly 13-year prison sentence last year in Southern California. Balwani, 57, was convicted of 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy committed while he was a Theranos chief operating officer and lived with Holmes.

The saga sparked pop culture depictions

In Wednesday’s filing, Holmes’ attorney did not disclose the location of the prison he was assigned to serve his sentence. But he noted that he must prepare to travel outside of California, where he lives in the San Diego area while out on bail. Davila recommended that Holmes be imprisoned in Bryan, Texas.

When Holmes is finally imprisoned, it will bring down the curtain on the saga that sheds light on the dark things in Silicon Valley that brought fame and fortune before his scandalous downfall.

LISTENING | Holmes tries:

After dropping out of Stanford University in 2003 to found Theranos as a teenager, Holmes promised to revolutionize health care with technology that promised to scan for hundreds of diseases and other potential problems with just a few drops of blood. The idea helped him raise nearly US$1 billion from sophisticated investors that included Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who was owed US$125 million under a restitution order.

But the Theranos blood test never came close to the way Holmes boasted with Balwani’s support, leading to the collapse of the company and the story that has become the subject of a book, Bad bloodHBO documentary, The Inventorand the Hulu mini-series, The Breakupwhich won Amanda Seyfried Emmy in the starring role.