FILE - Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes leaves federal court in San Jose, Calif., March 17, 2023. On Monday, April 10, Holmes was rebuffed in her attempt to stay out of federal prison while she appeals her conviction for the fraud she committed while overseeing a blood-testing scam that exposed Silicon Valley鈥檚 dark side. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
FILE - Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes leaves federal court in San Jose, Calif., March 17, 2023. On Monday, April 10, Holmes was rebuffed in her attempt to stay out of federal prison while she appeals her conviction for the fraud she committed while overseeing a blood-testing scam that exposed Silicon Valley鈥檚 dark side. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has been rebuffed in her attempt to stay out of federal prison while she appeals her conviction for the fraud she committed while overseeing a blood-testing scam that exposed Silicon Valley鈥檚 dark side.
In an 11-page ruling issued late Monday, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila concluded there wasn't compelling enough evidence to allow Holmes to remain free on bail while her lawyers try to persuade an appeals court that alleged misconduct during her four-month trial led to an unjust verdict.
The judge鈥檚 decision means Holmes, 39, will have to surrender to authorities April 27 to start the more than that Davila imposed in November. The punishment came 10 months after a jury found her guilty on against the Thearanos investors who believed in her promises to revolutionize the health care industry.
her lawyers to a San Jose, California, courtroom on March 17 to try to convince Davila that various missteps by federal prosecutors, and the omission of key evidence, will culminate in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals exonerating her.
Holmes' prison sentence is scheduled to start roughly 20 years after she dropped out of Stanford University when she was 19 years old to start Theranos in Palo Alto, California 鈥 the same city where William Hewlett and David Packard founded a company bearing their surnames in a small garage and planted the seeds of what grew into Silicon Valley.
Holmes could still file another appeal of Davila's latest ruling, her co-conspirator at Theranos 鈥 Ramesh 鈥淪unny鈥 Balwani 鈥 successfully used to delay his scheduled March 16 date to begin . But the , and Balwani is now scheduled to report to a Southern California prison on April 20.
Davila has recommended Holmes serve her sentence in a Bryan, Texas, prison. It hasn鈥檛 yet been publicly confirmed if that will be the facility where she reports.
Unless she can find a way to stay free, Holmes will be separated from the two children she had leading up to the trial and after her conviction.
Her first child, a boy, was born shortly before her trial began in September 2021. The youngest child, whose gender hasn鈥檛 been disclosed in court documents, at some point after her November sentencing. She conceived both with her current partner, William 鈥淏illy鈥 Evans, whom she met after breaking up with Balwani in the midst of Theranos鈥 downfall.
The denial of Holmes鈥 request to remain free is the latest twist in a long-running saga that has already been the subject of an acclaimed HBO documentary and an award-winning Hulu TV series.
Although they had separate trials, Holmes and Balwani were accused of essentially the same crimes centered on a ruse touting Theranos鈥 blood-testing system as a breakthrough in health care. The claims helped the company become a Silicon Valley sensation that raised nearly $1 billion from investors and at one point anointed Holmes with a $4.5 billion fortune, based on her 50% stake in Theranos.
Holmes also parlayed the buzz surrounding Theranos to speaking engagements on the same stage as former President Bill Clinton and glowing cover stories in business publications that likened her to tech visionaries such as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
But Theranos鈥 technology never came close to working like Holmes and Balwani boasted, resulting in the company鈥檚 scandalous collapse and a criminal case that shined a bright light .
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This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the location where the judge has recommended that Holmes serve her sentence. It is located in Bryan, Texas, not Byron, Texas.
