In 2014, Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, became one of the wealthiest women in America, thanks to her blood-testing company. Holmes enthralled the globe with her mission to increase access to healthcare for everyone, her distinctive borderline-baritone voice, and her black turtleneck attire.
But beneath the pretentious rhetoric and Issey Miyake outfit, the emperor was literally naked: Holmes’s fame turned to shame when a Wall Street Journal exposé exposed that her testing apparatuses were ineffective.
Holmes was accused of fraud and discredited in Silicon Valley. His narrative was told in the 2018 book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, and it was adapted into a 2022 Hulu miniseries called The Dropout, which starred Amanda Seyfried and was based on the same-titled podcast.
She is currently serving an 11-year sentence (reduced to nine years for good conduct) in federal prison after being found guilty of wire fraud. A federal court heard Holmes’ appeal in June 2024, but the judges have not yet rendered a decision.
“It’s been hell and torture to be here,” Holmes said of her imprisonment in February 2025 when speaking to PEOPLE.
Here is all the information you need to understand Elizabeth Holmes’ current life and the Silicon Valley scandal that led to her legal issues.
Who is Elizabeth Holmes?
Christian Holmes, an official at Enron, and Noel Anne Daoust, a worker for a congressional committee, were the parents of Holmes, who was born in Washington, D.C., on February 3, 1984. Her upbringing was mostly in Houston.
After achieving academic success, Holmes enrolled at Stanford University in 2001 to study chemical engineering. After spending the previous summer working at the Genome Institute of Singapore, she declared her desire to launch her own company and left college in March 2004.
That company evolved into Theranos, which used its Edison device to try and transform blood testing. According to Holmes and Theranos, their system could do thorough tests using only blood drops rather than complete vials as is the case with conventional blood testing. Theranos obtained FDA approval for herpes testing and signed an agreement with Walgreens to have their blood testing equipment in shops.
Holmes’ passion and determination made her a Silicon Valley celebrity, and she gained notoriety for her distinctive deep voice and black turtleneck outfit. Rupert Murdoch, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Walton family, and Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle, were among the prominent investors in Theranos. Former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, Treasury, and Labor George Schultz, and former Secretaries of Defense Bill Perry and James Mattis were on the company’s board of directors.
Due to her 50% ownership in Theranos, Forbes listed Holmes as one of the wealthiest women in the United States by the fall of 2014, when the company was valued at $9 billion.
What was wrong with Theranos’ blood testing?
The Edison and other Theranos technologies just didn’t function, despite all the excitement around the firm. Journalist John Carreyrou of The Wall Street Journal revealed in October 2015 that Theranos had misrepresented the effectiveness of their blood testing equipment and had really had outside machines conduct the majority of the blood tests they claimed to be conducting.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Theranos stopped utilizing its blood collection vials a day after the article was published due to pressure from the FDA, with the exception of its herpes test, which had previously received FDA approval. Theranos’ patented small vials were referred to as “uncleared medical devices” by the FDA later that month.
On Mad Money, Holmes first refuted the allegations made in the original Wall Street Journal piece, saying, “This is what happens when you work to change things, first they think you’re crazy, then they fight you, and then all of a sudden you change the world.”
By December 2016, new allegations surfaced regarding Theranos’ testing issues and non-compliance with health and safety requirements, and a potential deal between Theranos and Safeway was canceled a month following the discovery.
Theranos’ lab in Newark, California, was accused by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in January 2016 of violating safety standards in five distinct areas and perhaps posing “immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety,” CNN reported. Walgreens declared in June that their collaboration with the startup was coming to an end and that all of the Theranos Wellness Centers in its shops would close. In June 2016, Theranos was prohibited by the FDA from using its patented Nanotainer blood containers. The Wall Street Journal said in July of that year that Holmes was prohibited by CMS from owning or running any blood testing facilities for a period of two years.
In 2017, the state of Arizona filed a lawsuit against Theranos for failing to reimburse customers for blood testing.
According to CNN, Holmes and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the former president of Theranos and Holmes’ ex-boyfriend, were both charged with 11 charges of fraud in June 2018—two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud. Although Balwani and Holmes allegedly knew that their machines had problems with “accuracy and reliability” and couldn’t actually compete with blood testing machines already on the market, they were accused of lying to investors about the effectiveness of Theranos’ blood testing technology, using falsified documents, exaggerating the company’s financial success, and staging demonstrations in order to obtain funding from investors.
Prior to the charge being made public, Holmes resigned as CEO of Theranos, and the company was liquidated later that year. Holmes entered a not guilty plea to all of the accusations made against her.
What was Elizabeth Holmes’ verdict?
According to The New York Times, a COVID-19 concern, a juror’s trip, technological difficulties in the courtroom, and Holmes’ own pregnancy caused major delays in the trial, which was initially set for mid-2020. (In July 2021, she and her spouse, Billy Evans, welcomed their first child, a son named William.)
She claimed that Balwani was domineering, abusive, and manipulative throughout her trial, which started in late 2021. She also blamed her ex for contributing to Theranos’ failings by impairing her judgment.
Holmes was found guilty on three charges of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to conduct wire fraud by a jury in January 2022. The jury hung her on the remaining three counts of fraud, while she was found not guilty on the other four.
What was Elizabeth Holmes’ sentence?
Judge Edward Davila gave Holmes a sentence of 11 years and three months in federal prison in November 2022, with three years of supervised release to follow.
It was far longer than the 18 months, plus probation and community service, that Holmes’ defense team asked the judge to take into account, and it was four years shorter than the 15 years that the prosecutors had asked for. Senator Cory Booker was among the more than 100 individuals who wrote to Judge Davila pleading for Holmes’ leniency.
Since then, Holmes’ sentence has been lowered to nine years in exchange for good behavior. The anticipated date of her release is April 3, 2032.
Two months after Holmes’ conviction, Balwani entered a not guilty plea to all of the accusations against him and refuted Holmes’ allegations that he was aggressive, coercive, and manipulative. Balwani was found guilty on all counts in July 2022, including four counts of patient fraud, six counts of defrauding investors, and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. Lawyers for Balwani promised to challenge his conviction.
Balwani received a 12-year, 11-month sentence in federal prison in December 2022. According to KTVU, Balwani started his term at FCI Terminal Island in San Pedro, California, in April 2023.
Where is Elizabeth Holmes now?
Holmes filed an appeal in April 2023, citing what her lawyers described as a “unjust conviction.” Judge Davila turned down her request to be released from prison while she appealed. Holmes’ appeal was ultimately rejected because prosecutors accused her of being a “flight risk,” claiming that she bought a one-way ticket to Mexico following her sentence in order to leave the country.
Between her imprisonment and appeal filing, Holmes and Evans welcomed their second child, a girl named Invicta. On May 30, 2023, she started her term at Federal Prison Camp Bryan, a minimum security women’s penitentiary facility located in Bryan, Texas.
Jen Shah, a former cast member of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, told PEOPLE in September 2023 that she and Holmes made friends while incarcerated.
In early February 2024, Evans was pictured celebrating her 40th birthday by going to see Holmes with their kids. Holmes is permitted to spend a few hours with her family twice a week at Camp Bryan.
When Holmes said farewell to her husband and children, “[It] shatters my world every single time,” she told PEOPLE. “The people I love the most have to walk away as I stand here, a prisoner, and my reality sinks in.”
