Business

Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes has prison sentence slashed for second time in less than a year

By
Shannon Thaler
Published May 7, 2024, 10:54 a.m. ET

Convicted Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes seems to be a model prisoner at the women’s-only Texas lockup as her sentence was slashed for the second time in less than a year, according to updated Bureau of Prisons records.

The 40-year-old Holmes, known behind bars as inmate No. 24965-111 at Federal Prison Camp Bryan, was sentenced to 11 y🧸ears and three months on Nov. 18𓃲, 2022 — but will now be sprung on Aug. 16, 2032 instead of Dec. 29, 2032, the federal agency’s shows.

Last July, she had two years shaved off her sentence after being convicted on four counts of wire fraud and defrauding investors of more than $700 million with made-up claims about Theranos’ blood-testing services.

Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes being escorted by prison officials into a federal women's prison camp in Bryan, Texas
Elizabeth Holmes had her prison sentence slashed for the second time in less than a year, according to the Bureau of Prisons. AP
Elizabeth Holmes stands in a lab
Holmes was accused of defrauding investors of more than $700 million.

The disgraced tech executive will now serve a little over nine years behind b𒁃ars.

The Bureau of Prison did not reveal the reason for the most recent reduction, though the minimum-security FPC Bryan prison offers a system where inmates can earn credits toward “prerelease custody,” meaning they could the remainder of their sentence in home confinement or a halfway house.

Prisoners can earn credits through the program, dubbed the First Step Act, by participatin💫g in productive activities or recidivism reduction programs, which assist inmates in transitioning out of incarceration, accordingꦕ to the Bureau of Prisons.

Qualified inmates are currently eligible for up𝕴 to 54 days of good conduct time for each year of the sentence.

The agency said when Holmes’ sentence was first reduced that it does not comment on the specifics of confinement for any inmate.

Aside from the years-long sentence, Holmes was ordered — along with her ex-lover and former Theranos COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani — to pay $452 million in restitution.

Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, waving as she arrives at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas to begin her prison sentence
Holmes checked into FPC Bryan on May 30, 2023. She’s now anticipated to check out roughly nine years, two months and 19 days later, on Aug. 16, 2032. REUTERS
Aerial view of Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas where Elizabeth Holmes is serving her sentence
Holmes is completing her sentence at FPC Bryan in Texas, a minimum-security, women-only prison where inmates are reportedly awoken at 6 a.m. for jobs that earn between 12 cents and $1.15 per hour. REUTERS

Holmes must dish out $250 a month in restitution payments to victims, though her lawyers insisted before a judge that her “limited financial resources” will make it difficult ▨for her to make the monthly installments.

US District Judge Edward Davila — who presided over both Holmes and Balಞwani’s trials — amended Holmes’ court filing regarding the restitution payment schedule, noting that she won’t be required to make the monthly payment until after she’s served her now-nine-year se꧑ntence.

Holmes has celebrated her 40th birthday in February with her husband and two young kids.

Elizabeth Holmes on the cover of Forbes magazine for Business
Holmes was the CEO of Theranos, which landed her on the cover of Forbes before she was convicted of swindling doctors and patients to use the firm’s blood-testing services while knowing that it was incapable of producing results.

Holmes, hotel heir Billy Evans, and their children — William, 2, and Invicta, 11 months — were seen in her arms as she enjoyed some family time at FPC Bryan, ed.