Elizabeth Holmes made an “attempt to leave the country” through the purchase of a single ticket to Mexico leaving in January 2022. This was just in the wake of that Theranos founder was found guilty of fraud, as prosecutors claimed in a court filing on Friday.
Holmes was found guilty in month in January for defrauding investors during her time operating the failed blood testing startup Theranos. In November the company received a sent to greater than eleven year behind bars. She has filed an appeal and is not set to begin her sentence until next spring, a time of waiting which prosecutors called “generous” as well as due to her pregnancy.
Holmes’s claim that she attempted to flee the country last year came to light in a fresh court filing by prosecutors who argue that Holmes should be sentenced to serve her prison sentence instead of staying on an estate that is reported to have $13,000 per month in costs for maintenance.
In the complaint they argue that Holmes hasn’t provided convincing proof that she is not a flight risk according to her lawyers and cited the alleged 2022 incident to justify their fears that she might be a danger to the public.
“The government was informed on the 23rd of January 2022, 2022, that defendant Holmes took an international trip to Mexico that was scheduled to depart on January 26 2022 with no return flight scheduled,” the court filing states. “Only that the court brought up this flight as an unauthorized one with the defense lawyer was the flight canceled.”
The document also says that the prosecutors expect Holmes would “reply that she didn’t actually leave the country in accordance with her schedule” however, she said “it is hard to say without certainty” what she might had done “had the federal government not intervened.” In the aftermath of her sentence the prosecution says “the motive to flee has never been greater” as well as Holmes “has the capacity to take action based on that incentive.”
An attorney representing Holmes was not immediately available to answer Thestarbulletin’s call for comments on the filing , which was made on Friday.
The court’s filing contains an email sent from one of Holmes’ lawyers to the prosecutor, in which they claim that the travel arrangements were made prior to the verdict. In the letter, Holmes’ attorney claims that the former Theranos CEO was hoping that it would turn out differently, and she was hoping to travel to Mexico in order to be able to go on a wedding celebration with her friends in Mexico.
In a previous court filing, Holmes’ attorneys argued for her release from custody in the midst of an appeal, claiming that she wasn’t a flight risk or danger in the local community.
Holmes was placed in custody on the 27th of April 2023. At that her sentence in prison will commence.
“There aren’t two different justice systems one for the rich and one for the less wealthy There is one legal system for criminals in the country,” prosecutors stated in the court filing. They claim that “under this system the time is now” that it is time for Holmes to face the consequences of her deeds.
The company was once valued at $9 billion, Theranos attracted top investors and retail partners, claiming that it had created the technology to detect many different ailments using only one drop of blood. The company started to fall apart following an investigation by the Wall Street Journal investigation in 2015 revealed that Theranos has only performed about dozen from the many tests offered by its own proprietary technology and it was not certain of its accuracy.
