London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes loses bid to stay out of prison and will begin 11-year sentence this month

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes loses bid to stay out of prison and will begin 11-year sentence this month

Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes styled herself on Silicon Valley heavyweights like Apple boss Steve Jobs, right down to the turtlenecks. Her astonishing rise and fall from history-making billionaire to the brink of jail has inspired documentaries, podcasts, and TV dramas.

Elizabeth Holmes will begin an 11-year jail term this month after losing a bid to stay out of prison while she appeals against her conviction over the Theranos scandal.

The 39-year-old was sentenced in November for what prosecutors had branded as "among the most substantial white collar offences Silicon Valley or any other district has seen".

She launched Theranos with the promise of delivering revolutionary blood-testing technology that could check for dozens of diseases at once - and raised nearly $1bn (£840m) from a host of high-profile investors.

It helped her become America's youngest-ever self-made female billionaire by 2014, but the tech was exposed as bogus and the company - once valued at $9bn (£7.3bn) - quickly came crashing down.

She was found guilty by a Californian jury of three counts of investor fraud and one count of conspiracy.

Since her sentencing, Holmes's lawyers have tried to persuade an appeals court that alleged misconduct during her four-month trial led to an unjust verdict.

But in an 11-page ruling, US district judge Edward Davila said there was not enough compelling evidence for the Stanford University dropout to remain free while the appeal is heard.

The judge said while Holmes was "not likely to flee" or endanger the public if kept out of prison, her conviction was unlikely to be overturned.

It means she must surrender to authorities on 27 April.

Holmes with members of her family and partner Billy Evans


Holmes will be separated from her two children, one she had leading up to the trial and one after her sentencing.

She had both with current partner William Evans, who she met after breaking up with Theranos co-conspirator Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani.

Balwani, who was the company's president, will begin a nearly 13-year prison sentence on 20 April.

While he will report to a Southern California jail, Mr Davila has recommended Holmes serves her term in Texas.

Holmes's term will begin almost exactly 20 years after she dropped out of Stanford to found Theranos, inspired by the successes of Silicon Valley heavyweights like Apple boss Steve Jobs.

Her astonishing rise and fall from history-making billionaire to the brink of jail has inspired documentaries, podcasts, and an award-winning TV drama - The Dropout - starring Amanda Seyfried as Holmes.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×