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Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes' Request To Remain Free On Bail Denied By California Judge
After 19 rejected pretrial motions, U.S. federal district court judge Edward Davila once again denied a request made by Elizabeth Holmes, this one related to her argument to remain free on bail.
A California federal judge denied a request made by Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and CEO of blood-testing company Theranos, to remain out of prison while she appeals her wire fraud convictions, as specified in court documents filed on Monday.
The 39-year-old founder of the now defunct medical technology startup was convicted of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in January of 2022. Holmes defrauded investors out of more than $100 million via the company, which promised advanced testing from just a small amount of blood, according to NPR.
Holmes filed for an appeal in December 2022 after being handed a sentence of 11 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
A court may permit a release during an appeal if the defendant is not considered a flight risk or threat to the community, if the request does not delay the defendant going to prison, or if the appeal presents new information that challenges the information used in the initial decision, NPR noted
U.S. federal district court judge Edward Davila specified in his order that Holmes must report to prison on April 27. Holmes’ appeal is pending in San Francisco, where the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide if Davila’s orders must be upheld, Yahoo!Finance reported.
Holmes filed an additional 19 pretrial motions challenging the credibility of certain evidence and requesting a new trial following the jury’s verdict. Davila denied each request.
“Even though Ms. Holmes had presented clear and convincing evidence that she would not flee, the court does not find that she has raised a ‘substantial question of law or fact’ that is ‘likely to result in reversal or an order for a new trial of all counts,'” Davila noted.
Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 at the age of 19 after she dropped out of Stanford University. The company boasted its technology could screen patients for disease using the prick of a finger. A 2015 exposé from The Wall Street Journal showed that these blood tests were unable to produce the company's promised results.
“Ms. Holmes’s misrepresentations to Theranos investors involves more than just whether Theranos technology ‘worked as promised,'” the court opinion stated, according to NPR. “Ms. Holmes had also made several misrepresentations ... such as those regarding the company’s financial status, reliance on third-party and commercially available devices, partnership with Walgreens, and validation by pharmaceutical companies.”
Holmes was indicted in 2018 alongside her business partner and former boyfriend Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. The birth of her second child with partner Billy Evans, which was revealed by her lawyers earlier this year, resulted in her April 27 surrender date, allowing Holmes to remain out of prison for the delivery.
Davila will also rule on federal prosecutors' request for Holmes to compensate Theranos investors to the tune of $878 million.
