Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was ordered by a court in San Francisco to start serving her prison sentence. Read to know more about the current happenings.
Elizabeth Holmes: An update on her bail plea and prison sentence
A court in San Francisco ruled the Theranos founder must jointly pay a total of $452 million in reimbursement to the victims. Elizabeth Holmes gained fame by claiming her start-up’s blood-testing machines and technology could run several diagnostic tests with a few drops of blood. She was convicted in 2022 and received an 11-year three months long sentence. She requested the Ninth US circuit court of Appeals for pausing her sentence. However, the bail application was denied. The judge is going to set a new date for the 39-year-old to report.
More on the rulings
In another ruling, Judge Edward Davila held her responsible for reimbursement and ordered her and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, Holmes’ former partner and top Theranos executive to pay $452 million to the victims of their crimes. 57-year-old Balwani started serving an almost 13-year-long sentence in April following his conviction on conspiracy and fraud charges. Additionally, Judge Davila determined the duo must pay $125 million, the largest sum to Rupert Murdoch. The media mogul and investor suffered the biggest loss. Other payments include $40 million to Walgreens and $14.5 million to Safeway.
Elizabeth Holmes’ lawyers have been challenging her convictions and alleging misconduct and mistakes during the trial. Additionally, they also argued for her to stay out of prison during the period of the trial. However, the request received a rejection. Prosecuting initially sought a penalty of $800 million. However, Holmes and Bilwani’s lawyers argued for lowering it claiming financial troubles.
