Houston: Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is starting her 11-year prison sentence today. She is convicted of defrauding investors with her Silicon Valley startup firm.
The 39-year-old is the mother of two and she will be in an all-female facility in Bryan, Texas.
According to a report on BBC, Holmes will not be able to just declare bankruptcy and shed her debts. Prosecutors are already seizing her assets including money in the bank and properties. She, with her former business partner Ramesh Sunny Balwani, was also ordered to pay $452m to dozens of high-profile investors. Balwani was also convicted of fraud and reported to prison in California last month.
Homles, over 15 years, persuaded people to invest in her company Theranos under the claim that she has developed a revolutionary medical device that can run many tests at home using just one drop of blood from a finger prick. She attracted high-profile investors like Rupert Murdoch, the Walton family, and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Several magazines called the next tech visionary.
Her fame collapsed after the Wall Street Journal reported that the machines did not work as promised.
She pleaded not guilty throughout the investigation and claimed that the firm's lab directors were in charge of test quality. Before her sentencing was announced in November 2022, she apologised to employees, investors, and patients. "I loved Theranos. It was my life's work. The people I tried to get involved with Theranos were the people I loved and respected the most. I am devastated by my failings. I'm so, so sorry. I gave everything I had to build our company and to save our company. I regret my failings with every cell in my body."
Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 at the age of 19.