Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes avoids jail after court approves appeal
Eden Villalovas
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Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes delayed starting her 11-year and three-month prison sentence by filing a last-minute appeal on Tuesday evening.
Holmes, who was convicted on four counts of fraud in January 2022 for duping investors about the success of her blood-testing company that was once estimated at $9 billion, was expected to start her sentence Thursday.
THERANOS FOUNDER ELIZABETH HOLMES ORDERED BY JUDGE TO BE JAILED DURING APPEAL
Holmes will remain free for another month after filing an appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that automatically delays her surrender date until the court makes a decision on her appeal.
“Ms. Holmes was on bail at the time the motion was filed,” according to court documents. “Therefore, that bail automatically remains in effect until the Ninth Circuit has ruled on her motion.”
Holmes’s team wrote, “The court’s denial of release pending appeal below reflects numerous, inexplicable errors,” referring to Judge Edward Davila’s decision earlier this month, denying her request to remain free during her conviction appeal.
In that denial order from April 10, Davila wrote, “Although the Court finds that Ms. Holmes is not a flight risk or a danger to the safety of the community, it is unable to find that she has raised a ‘substantial question of law or fact’ that if ‘determined favorably to [her] on appeal, [would be] likely to result in reversal or an order for a new trial of all counts on which imprisonment has been imposed.'”
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Holmes’s former partner and ex-boyfriend, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, attempted to use the same appeal to avoid showing up for his nearly 13-year prison sentence. However, his appeal was denied, and Balwani turned himself in in San Pedro, California, on April 20, according to the Associated Press.
Holmes has given birth to two children during her court proceedings, her second child earlier this year. The court recommended Holmes serve at Federal Prison Camp at Bryan, Texas, a minimum security prison near her family.