Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes tried to leave the US shortly after her conviction on fraud charges last year, prosecutors alleged in a court filing this week.
According to the new court filing in response to Holmes’ request to stay out of jail pending her appeal, the 38-year-old bought a one-way ticket to Mexico last January.
“It was only after the government raised this unauthorized flight with the defense that the trip was canceled,” the filing states.
The filing added, “The government expects this [Holmes] will comment in response that she actually did not leave the country as planned – but it’s hard to know what [she] would have done if the government had not intervened.”
In response, Holmes’ lawyers submitted emails to the court claiming that Holmes planned the trip to Mexico before the verdict during her trial and was traveling to a friend’s wedding.
“Given the ruling, she has no plans to make the trip … But she didn’t cancel the trip either, amid all that was going on,” the email said.
Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison after her conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges related to her company’s failed blood-testing technology.
The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, includes three years of additional supervision after their release and a fine of $400-$100 for each count. Holmes was ordered to surrender to custody in April 2022.
Holmes dropped out of Stanford University at the age of 19 and founded the now-defunct Theranos, claiming that his unprecedented technology could diagnose numerous diseases, including cancer, using only a few drops of human blood. By 2015, Silicon Valley had turned the young CEO into a short-lived billionaire as venture capitalists swarmed. But an exposé in the Wall Street Journal earlier that year heralded its swift demise.
She was charged in 2018 and her trial began on August 31.
Author: Zac Ntim
Source: Deadline
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