A California federal judge ruled against Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ request to regain her freedom on bail as she tries to appeal her conviction for wire fraud.
The former leader of the medical technology startup in January 2022, was convicted of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
A jury found that Elizabeth Holmes defrauded investors of over $100 million by selling a blood-testing device that did not work as advertised.
“Ms. Holmes’s misrepresentations to Theranos investors involved more than just whether Theranos technology ‘worked as promised,'” the court’s opinion says. “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.”
She was sentenced to 11 years in jail and a further three years of supervised release. Holmes filed for an appeal in December 2022.
- If the defendant is not seen as a flight risk or threat to the community.
- The request isn’t used to delay the defendant going to prison.
- The appeal raises a substantial question of facts or law.
In its ruling, the U.S. District Court Northern District of California stated that while Holmes is not seen as a danger to the community or a flight risk, she has not successfully presented new evidence.
Holmes argued in her appeal that she did not promote a faulty product, though the court ruled “these disputes do not directly pertain to the conduct for which Ms. Holmes was convicted.”
39 years old Elizabeth Holmes established Theranos when she was still an undergraduate student at Stanford University. The company promised that its product could screen patients for diseases with just a sample from a single finger prick of blood rather than the conventional full blood draw.
Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos got almost $1 billion in funding even as the project failed to work properly.
