Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes suffered a significant legal setback Thursday after an appeals court rejected her bid to rehear her case.
The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals declined Holmes’ request to have her case reconsidered by the original panel of three judges who previously affirmed her 2022 fraud conviction.
The court said that none of the judges from the circuit asked for a full court vote to rehear the matter.
Holmes’ partner, Billy Evans, declined to comment when reached by The Post. Her attorneys were not immediately available for comment.
In January 2023, the former Silicon Valley darling was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison.
Holmes, a mother of two, was convicted on four counts of wire fraud the previous year for intentionally misleading investors about the capabilities and accuracy of Theranos’ blood-testing technology.
The startup was founded by Holmes in 2003 after she dropped out of Stanford University.
The now-defunct company quickly rose to prominence with its bold claims of revolutionizing blood-testing technology.
Holmes asserted that Theranos could perform hundreds of medical tests using just a few drops of blood, a significant improvement over traditional, invasive methods requiring larger samples.
The promise attracted significant attention and funding, including partnerships with major companies like Walgreens and Safeway.
By 2014, Theranos was valued at approximately $9 billion, and Holmes herself had a personal fortune estimated at $4.5 billion.
However, the company’s credibility began unraveling in 2015 when whistleblowers Erika Cheung and Tyler Shultz exposed inaccuracies and fraudulent practices at Theranos.
Their revelations were documented by Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou, who reported that Theranos’ technology, notably its proprietary “Edison” machine, frequently produced unreliable results and was only used for a fraction of the tests the company advertised.
The expose led to intense regulatory scrutiny and legal actions.
In 2018, Holmes and former Theranos president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were indicted on fraud charges.
Holmes subsequently resigned as CEO, and Theranos ceased operations later that year.
During her trial in 2021, prosecutors presented extensive evidence showing how Holmes misled investors, patients and regulators.
Although she was acquitted on several charges related to defrauding patients, Holmes was convicted on four counts concerning investor fraud.
Her legal team appealed, arguing that there were procedural errors during the trial and claiming Holmes genuinely believed Theranos’ technology would eventually succeed.
However, the appellate courts found no merit in these arguments, solidifying her conviction and lengthy sentence.
The Theranos saga led to a book by Carreyrou; “Bad Blood,” an HBO documentary; and Hulu’s dramatized series “The Dropout,” featuring actress Amanda Seyfried as Holmes.
Holmes began serving her prison sentence in May 2023 and her time behind bars is expected to be partly reduced for good behavior.
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