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Elizabeth Holmes, a former billionaire once renowned for the supposed medical advances she touted through her company Theranos, is now in jail. The mom of two, 41, is serving time after being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud after the company’s machine, the Edison, was found to be non-functional. It didn’t detect life threatening diseases as she’d claimed, after all.
Below, find out more about the woman who appeared to create a medical revolution out of thin air, only to be disgraced and land in prison.
Who is Elizabeth Holmes?
Elizabeth Holmes is the founder of Theranos, a company formed in 2014 that claimed their machine, the Edison, could detect serious diseases like diabetes and cancer with a simple prick of blood. The biotech entrepreneur, born in Washington, D.C., studied chemical engineering at Stanford and filed her first patent application, for a wearable drug-delivery patch, back in 2003. A year later, in 2004, she dropped out of the prestigious university in order to begin her startup consumer healthcare tech company.
She’s also the mother of two children — William, 3, and Invicta, 2, with her husband Billy Evans, whom she married in 2019.
How Did Elizabeth Holmes Get Rich?
According to the New Yorker, by late 2004, the ambitious college dropout had already raised six million from investors hoping to help seed the growth of Theranos. After the company partnered with pharmacy giant Walgreens as convenient centers for in-store blood sample collection, her star rose. Appearing on the covers of publishing giants including Inc, Fortune, and Forbes only helped her raise more money. The latter dubbed her the youngest self-made woman billionaire in the world, further ranking Elizabeth at #110 on the prestigious Forbes 400 for 2014.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, she topped out at a net worth of $4.5 billion before her downfall.
Why Is Elizabeth Holmes in Jail?
Theranos’ claims that the Edison could detect cancer and diabetes and save lives with a simple finger prick turned out to be completely false. As the company’s former CEO, Elizabeth was jailed after being found guilty on four counts of fraud. Defrauding investors that backed the company caused them to bleed millions, amplifying her alleged crimes. One count, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, raised false hopes in her ambitious investors. Three other counts were related to wire fraud.
Stephanie Hinds, U.S. Attorney, didn’t hold back when commenting on Elizabeth’s downfall. “The guilty verdicts in this case reflect Ms. Holmes’ culpability in this large-scale investor fraud and she must now face sentencing for her crimes,” she said when reading the January 2022 verdict, per NPR.
How Long is Elizabeth Holmes’ Prison Sentence?
Elizabeth’s jail sentence is 11 years and 3 months long. She’s currently serving it in a prison in Texas. She will be released in 2032, according to PEOPLE.
In a letter to the judge obtained by the outlet, Billy once expressed his dismay at her long sentence and asked for a shorter sentence. “My heart is broken with the thought of spending any days away from Liz, for a future in which my son grows up with a relationship with his mother on the other side of glass armed by guards,” he reportedly wrote. “The gravity of time without her is hard for me to comprehend.”
According to NBC News, her original sentence was shortened by two years in 2023 for good conduct.
