Where Is Elizabeth Holmes Now, 4 Years After Her Fraud Conviction? Inside the Theranos Founder’s Life in PrisonJessica Sager, Nicole Pomarico,
Elizabeth Holmes in 2015; Elizabeth Holmes in ‘You Can See Everything.’Credit: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; A24Elizabeth Holmes has been serving her 11-year sentence since 2023
Elizabeth Holmes was charged with fraud after her blood testing startup Theranos devices didn’t work
In May 2023, she started serving her 11-year sentence in federal prison
Holmes was approved to transfer to a halfway house starting in August 2027
Once named one of the richest women in America, Elizabeth Holmes is now into her third year of an 11-year sentence for fraud and she’s continuing to make headlines behind bars.
The entrepreneur rose to fame with her blood-testing startup Theranos that she claimed would make healthcare more accessible for everyone. However, a 2015 Wall Street Journalexposé revealed that her testing devices didn’t work and investigations ensued into her company, which involved deceptive assertions.
In the years since Holmes was convicted, her story has been chronicled in multiple projects including the 2018 book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, the 2022 Hulu miniseries The Dropout (based on the podcast of the same name) and most recently, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim‘s 2026 documentary You Can See Everything. The film follows her last 34 days at home before she reported to federal prison in 2023.
Holmes has made several attempts to appeal her conviction and although she was denied, her sentence has been reduced a few times in the process. In September 2026, she was approved to transfer to a halfway house that was set to begin the following August.
Here’s everything to know about where Elizabeth Holmes is now.
Who is Elizabeth Holmes?
Elizabeth HolmesCredit: HBO
Holmes was born on Feb. 3, 1984, in Washington, D.C., to mother Noel Anne Daoust, a Congressional committee staffer, and father Christian Holmes, an Enron executive. She was primarily raised in Houston.
Holmes did well academically and enrolled at Stanford University as a chemical engineering major in 2001. She dropped out of college in 2003 after working at the Genome Institute of Singapore the previous summer, saying she wanted to start her own business.
That business became Theranos, which aimed to revolutionize blood testing with its Edison device. Holmes and Theranos claimed that their technology could perform comprehensive tests with just drops of blood instead of full vials like traditional blood testing.
Theranos inked a deal with Walgreens to have their blood testing devices in stores, and the FDA approved Theranos for herpes testing. Holmes’ vision attracted widespread attention across Silicon Valley, and she became known for her signature black turtlenecks and deep voice.
Theranos boasted high-profile investors such as Rupert Murdoch, former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, the Walton family and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. The company’s board of directors included former Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, Treasury and Labor George Shultz and former Secretaries of Defense Bill Perry and James Mattis.
By fall 2014, Theranos was valued at $9 billion and Forbesreported that Holmes was one of the wealthiest women in the United States, thanks to her 50% stake in the company.
What was wrong with Theranos’ blood testing?
Elizabeth Holmes speaks on stage during the closing session of the Clinton Global Initiative 2015 on Sept. 29, 2015, in New York City.Credit: JP Yim/Getty
Despite all of the hype around Theranos, the company’s technology, including the Edison, didn’t work. In October 2015, The Wall Street Journal journalist John Carreyrou reported that Theranos lied about the success of its blood testing devices and used outside machines to perform the bulk of what they claimed were their own blood tests.
A day after the article was published, Theranos ceased using its blood collection vials amid pressure from the FDA, per The Wall Street Journal, except for its previously FDA-approved herpes test. Later that month, the FDA called Theranos’ trademark tiny vials “uncleared medical devices.”
Holmes initially denied the original Wall Street Journal article’s claims, asserting on Mad Money, “This is what happens when you work to change things, first they think you’re crazy, then they fight you, and then all of a sudden you change the world.”
A month after the report, a proposed contract between Theranos and Safeway was canceled, and by December 2016, more reports emerged in The Washington Postabout Theranos’ testing failures and non-compliance with health and safety regulations.
In January 2016, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) claimed Theranos’ lab in Newark, Calif., failed to meet safety regulations in five different areas and potentially posed “immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety,” according to CNN.
That same June, Walgreens announced that all Theranos Wellness Centers in its stores would cease operations and that their partnership with the startup was over. The following month, The Wall Street Journal reported that CMS banned Holmes from owning or operating any blood testing centers for two years.
The state of Arizona later sued Theranos in 2017 for customer refunds for blood tests, which agreed to pay over $4 million in consumer restitution.
What was Elizabeth Holmes accused of?
Elizabeth Holmes arrives at the U.S. District Court House for a motion hearing on Nov. 4, 2019.Credit: Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto/Getty
In June 2018, Holmes and former Theranos president (and Holmes’ former boyfriend) Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were each charged with 11 counts of fraud (nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud), CNN reported.
The pair were accused of lying to investors about the efficacy of Theranos’ blood testing technology as well as of using falsified documents, overstating the company’s financial success and faking demonstrations to secure funding from investors — despite Balwani and Holmes reportedly knowing that their machines had issues with “accuracy and reliability” and couldn’t compete with existing blood testing machines already on the market, per The New York Times.
Holmes stepped down as CEO of Theranos ahead of the indictment’s announcement, and Theranos dissolved later that year. Holmes pleaded not guilty to all charges against her.
What was Elizabeth Holmes’ verdict?
Holmes’ trial, which was originally scheduled for mid-2020, faced significant delays, including a juror having to travel, a COVID-19 situation, technology issues in the courtroom and Holmes’ own pregnancy, per The New York Times. (She and her partner, Billy Evans, welcomed their first child, son William, in July 2021.)
Her trial began in late 2021, during which she alleged that Balwani was abusive, manipulative and controlling, pinning much of the failures of Theranos on her ex for clouding her judgment.
In January 2022, a jury convicted Holmes of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was found not guilty of four counts of fraud and the jury was hung on the remaining three counts.
What was Elizabeth Holmes’ sentence?
Elizabeth Holmes leaves federal court in San Jose on Oct. 2, 2019.Credit: Michael Short/Bloomberg/Getty
In November 2022, Judge Edward Davila sentenced Holmes to 11 years and three months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
It was four years less than the 15 years prosecutors requested and significantly longer than the 18 months, plus probation and community service, that Holmes’ defense team asked the judge to consider.
Holmes’ sentence has since been reduced to nine years for good behavior.
Where is Elizabeth Holmes now?
In April 2023, Holmes appealed what her attorneys called an “unjust conviction.” She asked to stay out of prison during her appeal process, but Judge Davila denied her request. Prosecutors accused Holmes of being a “flight risk,” alleging that she purchased a one-way ticket to Mexico after her conviction to flee the country, and her appeal was ultimately denied, per Reuters.
Holmes and Evans welcomed their second child, daughter Invicta, between her sentencing and appeal filing. She began serving her sentence on May 30, 2023, at the minimum security women’s correctional facility Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan, Texas.
During her stay, she reportedly became friends with Real Housewives of Salt Lake City alum Jen Shah, who was released in 2025. Holmes has also been allowed to visit with Evans and their two kids for a few hours twice a week.
“[It] shatters my world every single time,” she told PEOPLE in February of saying goodbye to her partner and kids. “The people I love the most have to walk away as I stand here, a prisoner, and my reality sinks in.”
In January 2026, it was confirmed that Holmes has asked President Donald Trump for clemency, though the White House didn’t comment on whether they plan to grant it. Later that year, she was approved to relocate to a halfway house called Austin Transitional Center in Del Valle, Texas, on Aug. 23, 2027.
Though the reason for the move has not been confirmed, a source from the Department of Justice told PEOPLE that the decision “has nothing to do with it being commuted” and that Holmes simply “became eligible.” At the facility, Holmes will have greater freedom, including the ability to work off-site and receive visitors.
Her scheduled release date is set for Feb. 22, 2030.
Source: Crime
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