Elizabeth Holmes must report to prison later this month while she appeals her conviction for fraud, a judge ruled Monday.
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila concluded in an 11-page order that there wasn’t enough evidence to allow the disgraced Theranos founder to stay out of prison during her appeal.
In his ruling, Davila stated that the court was unable to find that Holmes has “raised a ‘substantial question of law or fact’” that could result in a reversal or new trial.
Holmes, who founded Theranos in 2003, rose to fame after falsely claiming that the company’s blood-testing machines could diagnose a wide range of conditions from just a single drop of blood.
She was convicted in January 2022 on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Theranos investors and three counts of wire fraud. In November, Davila sentenced Holmes to more than 11 years in prison for her role in defrauding her company’s investors. She is scheduled to surrender to authorities on April 27.
Holmes, who welcomed her first child in 2021 and her second child earlier this year, requested to remain out of prison on bail while she appeals her conviction.
Amy Saharia, Holmes’ attorney, argued at a hearing in March that there were various missteps involving the presentation of the evidence during the trial. “We think the record is teeming with issues,” Saharia said at the time.
In his Monday ruling denying Holmes’ request to stay out of prison, Davila also addressed allegations made by prosecutors in January that Holmes had made plans to “flee the country” by booking a one-way ticket to Mexico last year.
The judge concluded that booking the flight was “a bold move” and said it was a “perilously careless oversight” to not cancel the ticket immediately upon the guilty verdict. But he said the court accepted Holmes’ “representation that the one-way flight ticket — while ill-advised — was not an attempt to flee the country.”