Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO of failed blood testing startup Theranos, is set to begin serving her prison sentence on Tuesday. Holmes was convicted of multiple charges of defrauding investors while running the now-defunct company and was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison last November. Despite her request to remain free on bail while she fought to overturn her conviction, an appellate court denied her request earlier this month. Judge Edward Davila, who presided over her trial, ordered her to turn herself in to the Bureau of Prisons by May 30 to begin serving her sentence.
Holmes is expected to serve her sentence at Federal Prison Camp Bryan, a minimum-security federal prison camp in southern Texas, approximately 100 miles from Houston, where she grew up before moving to California to attend Stanford. Her ex-boyfriend and former Theranos COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who was also convicted of fraud, began serving his sentence last month.
Once hailed as a tech icon, Holmes was the poster child for the ambitions and potential of Silicon Valley. However, her fall from grace was swift after The Wall Street Journal published an investigation in 2015, which revealed that Theranos had only performed a handful of tests using its proprietary technology and that the accuracy of these tests was questionable. It was also discovered that the company had been using third-party manufactured devices from traditional blood testing companies rather than its own technology.
Theranos ultimately dissolved in September 2018. Holmes and Balwani were indicted together nearly five years ago on the same 12 criminal charges. Their trials were severed after Holmes indicated that she intended to accuse Balwani of sexually, emotionally, and psychologically abusing her throughout their decade-long relationship, which coincided with her time running the company. Balwani’s attorneys have denied these claims.
Earlier this month, Judge Davila ordered Holmes and Balwani to pay restitution of approximately $452 million to victims of their crimes. In November, before her sentencing, a tearful Holmes spoke to the court in San Jose, California, stating that she loved Theranos and that it was her life’s work. She went on to apologize to the employees, investors, and patients of Theranos and expressed regret for her failings.