A federal appeals court rejected former rising biotech star Elizabeth Holmes’ final appeal against imprisonment, before another judge ordered him to report to prison authorities on May 30.
• Also read: Falling biotech star Elizabeth Holmes is set to go to jail by the end of the month
• Also read: Theranos: Fallen star Elizabeth Holmes has been sentenced to 11 years in prison
The former entrepreneur had asked for her sentence to be suspended while justice considers her appeal against the 11-year-3-month prison sentence issued against her last November.
In a decision filed Tuesday night, three judges of a California federal appeals court found that Elizabeth Holmes’ appeal did not justify that suspension, on the grounds that her argument did not raise “substance and that this appeal is unlikely to overturn his conviction.” .
In a decision issued Wednesday, Federal Judge Edward Davila ordered the 39-year-old convict to report to a branch of the Federal Office of Prisons (BOP) on May 30, “to begin serving her sentence.”
AFP asked Elizabeth Holmes’ lawyer to respond.
As for the BOP, he also did not respond to requests from AFP about the future whereabouts of the former muse in Silicon Valley.
Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of deception in the course of fundraising for her Theranos company, which claimed it could revolutionize medical diagnostics.
The technology developed by Theranos did not work as promised and the biotech closed its doors in 2018, leaving behind investors who poured several hundred million dollars into the company’s equity capital.
Elizabeth Holmes has always claimed good faith, and has denied ever knowingly seeking to deceive investors.
In a separate ruling, issued on Tuesday, Judge Edward Davila ordered Elizabeth Holmes and former Theranos chief operating officer Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to return $452 million to investors.
Among them is Rupert Murdoch, to whom the two former partners owe $125 million.
In an interview with The New York Times, published in early May, Elizabeth Holmes explained that even before the damages, she was unable to pay the attorney’s fees, which prosecutors calculated at more than $30 million.
“I will have to work for the rest of my life to pay them back,” she said.
The press reported that in 2019 she married Billy Evans, whose family owns a chain of hotels. She has two young children.
Her story fascinated the American media, because before her fall she embodied a certain image of the innovative Silicon Valley.
