Where Is Elizabeth Holmes Now? All About the Disgraced Tech Founder's Life in Prison

Elizabeth Holmes went down in history as the founder of Theranos, becoming one of the Forbes‘ richest women in America in 2014 thanks to her blood-testing startup. With her uniform of black turtlenecks, her distinctive baritone voice and charisma, Holmes took the world by storm with her goal of making healthcare more affordable for everyone.

However, behind the flowery tongue and Issey Miyake uniform, the emperor didn’t really have any clothes: Holmes became infamous after The Wall Street Journal exposé revealed that her test devices did not actually work.

Accused of fraud and disgraced in Silicon Valley, Holmes’ story was chronicled in a 2018 book. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup and dramatized in a 2022 Hulu miniseries Relegation based on the podcast of the same name starring Amanda Seyfried.

She was eventually convicted of fraud and is currently serving an 11-year sentence in federal prison. Holmes’ appeal was heard in federal court in June 2024, but a decision is not expected for several weeks or months.

Here’s everything you need to know about Elizabeth Holmes’ life today and the Silicon Valley scandal that sparked her legal troubles.

Who is Elizabeth Holmes?

Elizabeth Holmes. HBO

Holmes was born on February 3, 1984, in Washington, DC, to Noel Anne Daoust, a congressional committee clerk, and Enron CEO Christian Holmes. She was primarily raised in Houston.

Holmes excelled in academics and enrolled at Stanford University as a chemical engineering major in 2001. She dropped out of college in March 2004 after working at the Genome Institute in Singapore the previous summer, saying she wanted to start her own business.

That business became Theranos, which set out to revolutionize blood testing with its Edison device. Holmes and Theranos claimed their technology could perform comprehensive tests with just drops of blood instead of full vials like traditional blood testing. Theranos has signed a deal with Walgreens to put its blood testing devices in stores, and the FDA has approved Theranos for herpes testing.

Holmes’ enthusiasm and drive brought her fame in Silicon Valley, and she became known for wearing a uniform of black turtlenecks, as well as for her distinctive deep voice. Theranos boasted high-profile investors such as Rupert Murdoch, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Walton family and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. The company’s board of directors included former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury and Labor George Shultz, and former Secretaries of Defense Bill Perry and James Mattis.

By the fall of 2014, Theranos was valued at $9 billion and Forbes announced that Holmes was one of the richest women in the United States thanks to her 50% stake in the company.

What was wrong with Theranos blood testing?

Elizabeth Holmes speaks on stage during the closing session of the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative on September 29, 2015 in New York.

JP Yim/Getty

For all the hype surrounding Theranos, the company’s technology, including The Edison, just didn’t work. In October 2015 The Wall Street Journal journalist John Carreyrou reported that Theranos lied about the success of its blood testing devices and used outside machines to perform most of what it claimed were its own blood tests.

The day after the article was published, Theranos stopped using its blood collection vials under pressure from the FDA, per The Wall Street Journal, except for its previously FDA-approved herpes test. Later that month, the FDA called Theranos’ tiny vials “unproven medical devices.”

Holmes initially denied the original The Wall Street Journal article claims, arguing on Mad Money“This is what happens when you work to change things, first they think you’re crazy, then they fight you, and then suddenly you change the world.”

A month after the report, the proposed deal between Theranos and Safeway was cancelled, and by December 2016, more reports emerged of Theranos’ testing failures and non-compliance with health and safety regulations.

In January 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) alleged that Theranos’ laboratory in Newark, California, failed to meet safety regulations in five different areas and potentially posed an “imminent risk to the health and safety of patients,” according to CNN . In June, Walgreens announced that all Theranos wellness centers in its stores would cease operations and that its partnership with the startup had ended. In June 2016, the FDA banned Theranos from using their trademarked Nanotainer blood containers. That July, The Wall Street Journal reported that CMS banned Holmes from owning or operating blood testing centers for two years.

The state of Arizona sued Theranos in 2017 to get money back for the blood tests.

What was Elizabeth Holmes accused of?

Elizabeth Holmes arrives at the U.S. District Courthouse for a motion hearing on November 4, 2019.

Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto/Getty

In June 2018, Holmes and former Theranos chairman (and Holmes’ ex-boyfriend) Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were each charged with 11 counts of fraud (nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud), CNN reported. The two are accused of lying to investors about the effectiveness of Theranos’ blood-testing technology, as well as using forged documents, overstating the company’s financial success and faking demonstrations to secure funding from investors — despite Balwani and Holmes allegedly knowing their machines had problems with “accuracy and reliability” and cannot really compete with existing blood testing machines already on the market.

Holmes stepped down as Theranos CEO before the indictment was announced, and Theranos dissolved later that year. Holmes has pleaded not guilty to all charges against her.

What was the verdict of Elizabeth Holmes?

Elizabeth Holmes arrives at Robert F. Peckham US Federal Court on April 22, 2019. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Holmes’ trial, originally scheduled for mid-2020, has faced significant delays, including a juror who had to travel, fears of COVID-19, technology issues in the courtroom and Holmes’ pregnancy, according to The New York Times. (She and her husband, Billy Evans, welcomed their first child, son William, in July 2021.)

Who is the husband of Elizabeth Holmes? Everything you need to know about Billy Evans

Her trial began in late 2021, during which she claimed Balwani was abusive, manipulative and controlling, attributing much of Theranos’ failure to her ex for clouding her judgment.

In January 2022, a jury found Holmes guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was found not guilty on four counts of fraud, and the jury convicted her on the remaining three counts.

What was Elizabeth Holmes’ sentence?

Elizabeth Holmes leaves federal court in San Jose on October 2, 2019.

Michael Short/Bloomberg/Getty

In November 2022, Judge Edward Davila sentenced Holmes to 11 years and three months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

That was four years short of the 15 years prosecutors had sought and significantly longer than the 18 months, plus probation and community service, that Holmes’ defense team urged the judge to consider. More than 100 people wrote to Judge Davila asking for leniency for Holmes, including Senator Cory Booker.

What happened to Sunny Balwana?

Sunny Balwani walks out of federal court in San Jose on July 5, 2022.

Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty

Balwani’s trial began two months after Holmes’ conviction, with the Pakistani businessman pleading not guilty to all charges against him and denying Holmes’ claims that he was coercive, manipulative and abusive. In July 2022, Balwani was convicted on all counts: two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, six counts of defrauding investors, and four counts of defrauding patients. Balwani’s lawyers have vowed to appeal his conviction.

In December 2022, Balwani was sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in federal prison. In April 2023, Balwani began serving his term at FCI Terminal Island in San Pedro, California, according to KTVU.

Where is Elizabeth Holmes now?

Elizabeth Holmes arrives in federal court with her partner Billy Evans and mother Noel Holmes on November 18, 2022.

Justin Sullivan/Getty

In April 2023, Holmes appealed what her lawyers called a “wrongful conviction”. She asked to stay out of jail during the appeal process, but Judge Davila denied her request. Prosecutors accused Holmes of being a “flight risk,” alleging that she bought a one-way ticket to Mexico after she was convicted of fleeing the country, and her appeal was ultimately denied.

Holmes and Evans had their second child, a daughter, Invicta, between her conviction and the appeal. She began serving her sentence on May 30, 2023, at Camp Bryan Federal Prison, a minimum security women’s correctional facility in Bryan, Texas. In September 2023, a representative for The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City alum Jen Shah told PEOPLE that Shah and Holmes became friends in prison.

Evans was photographed visiting Holmes with the children for her 40th birthday in early February 2024.

Despite Holmes’ lengthy sentence, however, Holmes is scheduled to be released on December 29, 2032, nine years and seven months into her term.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education