Elizabeth Holmes, the notorious figure at the head of the Theranos scandal, was just dealt another blow. After buying a one-way ticket to Mexico, a judge clipped her wings. Was she planning to run?
Bail denied
More than anything, Elizabeth Holmes seems to want to stay out of jail. Maybe she should have thought about that before defrauding Theranos investors of hundreds of millions of dollars. The former startup CEO and Silicon Valley darling is facing 11 years and three months in prison. She’s scheduled to head behind bars on April 27th.
Now that a last-minute bid for freedom has been shot down by a judge, Holmes is going to prison. Unless she comes up with another scheme, of course.
Ticket to nowhere
In a move that the judge called a “bold move” and “ill-advised,” Holmes bought a one-way ticket to Mexico. The departure date was three weeks after the date of her conviction. Prosecutors called the flight an “attempt to flee the country.”
However, Judge Edward Davila has now ruled that, although not the best decision she could have made, booking the flight wasn’t a clear-cut attempt to evade justice.
“Booking international travel plans for a criminal defendant in anticipation of a complete defense victory is a bold move, and the failure to promptly cancel those plans after a guilty verdict is a perilously careless oversight,” Davila wrote on Monday.
Holmes’ lawyer said the trip was for a friend’s wedding but offered no explanation as to why there was no return flight booked.
‘Dropout’ is now a mom of two
Despite the very public fall of Theranos, Holmes managed to find time to get engaged and start a family. Holmes and fiance Billy Evans welcomed their first child in 2021. Now the inspiration for the series The Dropout claims to have given birth again recently, arguing that her prison sentence should be delayed so that her children aren’t separated from their mother.
“Ms. Holmes has deep ties to the community: She is the mother of two very young children; she has close relationships with family and friends, many of who submitted letters at sentencing vouching for her good character; and she volunteers with a rape crisis and counseling organization,” the court filing from her defense team stated.
Holmes is ordered to serve her sentence in a minimum-security facility about 100 miles outside Houston, Texas. The prison, which sits on a 37-acre campus, is said to be more welcoming of family visits. The judge who sentenced Holmes believes that “family visitation enhances rehabilitation.”
