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- Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is set to report to prison in a matter of weeks.
- On Monday, a judge denied her request to remain free on bail while she appeals her conviction.
- Holmes was convicted on 4 counts of fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.
Elizabeth Holmes is set to report to prison later this month after losing her bid to stay out while she appeals her conviction.
Late Monday, a judge denied the Theranos founder's request to remain free on bail during her appeal. Holmes was convicted on four counts of fraud and conspiracy in January 2022. She was found not guilty on four other counts, and jurors couldn't reach a unanimous verdict on the three remaining counts.
In November, Holmes was sentenced to 11.25 years in prison with 3 years of supervised release. She filed for an appeal in December, largely focused on the admission of evidence about whether Theranos devices "worked as promised."
Judge Edward Davila wrote in his decision Monday that even if Holmes won her appeal on those grounds, her conviction also stemmed from false claims she made to investors about Theranos' finances.
"Contrary to her suggestion that accuracy and reliability were central issues to her convictions, Ms. Holmes's misrepresentations to Theranos investors involved more than just whether Theranos technology worked as promised," he wrote. "Whether the jury heard more or less evidence that tended to show the accuracy and reliability of Theranos technology does not diminish the evidence the jury heard of other misrepresentations Ms. Holmes made to investors."
He continued: "Although the Court finds that Ms. Holmes is not a flight risk or a danger to the safety of the community, it is unable to find that she has raised a 'substantial question of law or fact' that if 'determined favorably to [her] on appeal, [would be] likely to result in reversal or an order for a new trial of all counts on which imprisonment has been imposed.'"
Last month, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani — who is Holmes' co-defendant and ex-boyfriend, as well as Theranos' former president and COO — also lost his bid to stay out of prison during appeal. He was convicted in July on all 12 charges brought against him. In December, he was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison with 3 years of probation.
Balwani is set to report to prison on April 20, and Holmes must surrender a week later, on April 27. Davila previously recommended Holmes serve her sentence in a minimum-security facility in Bryan, Texas, about 100 miles from Houston.