Fallen Silicon Valley star Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the health technology startup Theranos, began serving her 11-year prison sentence on Tuesday, marking the last stop on her fall from grace after she was exposed for defrauding investors, doctors and patients with phony claims about her blood-testing company.
Holmes arrived at the prison camp in Bryan, Tex., an all-female facility about 100 miles outside of Houston, just after 2 p.m., according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The minimum-security penitentiary also houses reality TV star Jen Shah from “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.” Holmes’ arrival comes after repeated attempts from her lawyers to delay her incarceration.
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila earlier this month ordered the 39-year-old mother of two to report to prison after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied her request to remain free pending an appeal.
Holmes, a Stanford University dropout, founded her company when she was 19 years old. Before her scam began to unravel in 2015 — when the Wall Street Journal published damning articles about Theranos — the health technology startup was valued at $9 billion.
Following a months-long trial in San Jose, Calif., Holmes in January 2022 was found guilty on four counts of wire fraud for bilking high-profile investors — among them media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the Walton family of Walmart fame — out of millions. Holmes wrongfully claimed Theranos’ technology, nicknamed “the Edison,” could administer tests for more than 200 diseases and medical conditions with just a single drop of blood.
In reality, the tech had only been used to test for a small portion of health conditions and often provided inaccurate results.
The company’s disgraced COO and Holmes’ ex-boyfriend, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, was ordered to spend 13 years behind bars in connection with the scheme. He started serving his sentence at Terminal Island Prison in San Pedro, Calif. in April. The facility has had a number of notable inmates in the past, including Al Capone and Charles Manson.