Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reported to prison on Tuesday, May 30, after being sentenced to more than 11 years behind bars.
Holmes, 39, has surrendered into custody at a federal women’s prison camp in Bryan, Texas, according to Associated Press. The arrival comes more than a year after Holmes was found guilty on four counts of defrauding investors: three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
In November 2022, Judge Edward Davilla sentenced Holmes to 11 years and three months in prison. The former CEO also faces three years of supervision upon her release, as well as a fine of $100 per each count of fraud, according to CNN.
During the trial, Holmes apologized for her “failings” while admitting that she had failed her team.
“I loved Theranos, it was my life’s work. My team meant the world to me. They worked tirelessly,” Holmes told the judge. “Every day I have felt deep pain for what people went through because I failed them. I am so so sorry.”
Holmes is not the only person facing charges for Theranos, so is her ex and former partner Sunny Balwani.
Balwani, 57, met Holmes when she was in Stanford’s summer Mandarin program. He served as her right-hand man at the company, but the two parted ways in 2016 when he exited Theranos.
In December 2022, Balwani was sentenced to 13 years in prison for defrauding investors and patients about the company’s business and technology.
The former Stanford University student found love again with Billy Evans following her relationship with Balwani. The twosome reportedly met at a party in California in 2017 and secretly tied the knot two years later.
“Finding your person in the middle of all of this and experiencing that love when you’re going through hell is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced,” Holmes told The New York Times in May 2023.
Holmes gave birth to a son, William, in July 2021. The disgraced businesswoman shared she was pregnant with the duo’s second child at the November 2022 hearing.
Several months later, court documents revealed that Holmes had quietly given birth to baby No. 2. She cited her newborn as one of the reasons why she should be granted permission to delay the start of her sentence.
The Washington D.C. native founded Theranos in 2003 with the idea that she could invent a way to perform blood tests using only a small amount of blood obtained from a finger prick. After raising more than $700 million from high-profile investors, the company also landed partnerships with major companies such as Walgreens.
As the company began to grow so did worry as to whether the technology actually worked. The FDA launched an investigation in August 2015 while Wall Street reporter John Carreyrou wrote an exposé in October 2015 claiming that Theranos’ blood-testing machine could not deliver the correct results and was running samples through other manufacturers’ machines.
After Theranos ceased its lab operations and wellness centers, Holmes, Theranos and Balwani, were charged with “massive fraud” by the SEC in March 2018.
