Former Theranos chief Elizabeth Holmes ‘a flight risk’, say prosecutors
21 January 2023, 02:44
Holmes had a one-way plane ticket to Mexico booked three weeks after being convicted of fraud and conspiracy, prosecutors said.
Elizabeth Holmes is a flight risk and should not be allowed to stay out of prison while she appeals against her 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors, federal prosecutors have said.
Holmes had a one-way plane ticket to Mexico booked for January 26, 2022, three weeks after being convicted by a jury on four counts of fraud and conspiracy, federal prosecutors said in a motion filed on Thursday in federal court in Northern California.
Holmes, who was chief executive of Theranos during the company’s turbulent 15-year history, was convicted in a scheme that revolved around the company’s claims to have developed a medical device that could detect a multitude of diseases and conditions from a few drops of blood. But the technology never worked, and the claims were false.
Holmes booked the 2022 flight without a scheduled return trip and only cancelled it after prosecutors contacted Holmes’ attorneys about the “unauthorised flight”, prosecutors said.
Holmes’ lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. In a January 23, 2022, email responding to prosecutors’ concerns about the planned trip, they said Holmes had booked it before the jury’s verdict to attend a wedding in Mexico.
“Given the verdict, she does not plan to take the trip and therefore did not provide notice, seek permission, or request access to her passport (which the government has) for the trip,” wrote Lance Wade, one of Holmes’ layers.
On November 17, US District Judge Edward Davila sentenced Homes to more than 11 years in prison. Judge Davila ordered Holmes, who is pregnant, to report to prison on April 27, giving her enough time to give birth to her second child before she is incarcerated. She gave birth to a son shortly before her trial started last year.
Prosecutors did not protest against Judge Davila’s decision to give Holmes five months of freedom or bring up the fact that they considered her a flight risk.
Holmes is scheduled to return to court on March 17 for a hearing on her request to stay out of prison while she appeals her conviction.
