Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO of the blood-testing company Theranos, is requesting a judge to reverse her “unjust” conviction and reduce her 11 year sentence one week before she is to report to prison. According to the court filing on Monday, Holmes’ attorneys argued that she was denied the opportunity to present “compelling evidence” that would have solidified her defense.
In 2018, Holmes and former president of Theranos and her ex-boyfriend, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, were charged with several counts of wire fraud. This stemmed from the claim that they had defrauded investors who had backed the company for what was supposedly a revolutionary new way of quickly and accurately testing a small sample of blood.
Holmes was found guilty of four counts and sentenced to 11.25 years in prison with three years of state supervision upon release. However, Holmes’ attorneys have argued that their client’s trial was flawed and that she deserved either a new trial or a reduced sentence due to her being prevented from citing Balwani’s testimony in her own defense. The attorneys declared that he was a “compelling evidence” that would have corroborated Holmes’ argument that she had no intent to defraud investors. Balwani was convicted of 12 counts and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
The defense team of Elizabeth Holmes also argued that the court was influenced by Dr. Adam Rosendorff’s testimony. He stated that Theranos’ technology was “uniquely problematic” without being cross-examined. Therefore, Holmes’ lawyers called for the judge to order a new trial or resentencing. Although the judge denied Holmes’ request for remaining free to appeal her conviction, she had pleaded in tears for her failures during her sentencing.
In the past year, Holmes had previously asked for her conviction to be reversed as well as increased her sentence. In May, her defense attorneys saw insufficient evidence for any “rational juror” to have found her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In November, Holmes had asked for 18 months of house arrest but was denied.
Theranos was a revolutionary healthcare startup established in 2004 by Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani. They aimed to revolutionize the non-invasive diagnostics market with their proprietary blood-test technology. By 2013, they were claiming to have developed a commercial platform that could run “virtually hundreds” of tests using a small sample of blood and significantly reduce costs. Due to the ingenious idea, investors put in more than $700 million in the company, an act that eventually landed them with wire fraud charges.
Elizabeth Holmes was born in 1984 in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Houston, Texas. She comes from a family with a background in healthcare, inspiring her to found Theranos. During her time with the company, she reportedly sought to emulate the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The ‘feminine Steve Jobs’ rose to prominence quickly and was once worth $4.5 billion. Her net worth has since gone down to zero and she is now known as the ‘biggest scammer of the 21st century’.
Despite being accused of defrauding investors, Holmes has always maintained throughout the trial that she did not mean to deceive anyone. Seemingly a victim of her own ambition, Holmes has paid a significant price for her alleged crimes and is now facing a long prison sentence.
