Saturday, January 21, 2023

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M HUBRIS

Elizabeth Holmes still shows 'no remorse to her victims' and continues to live on an estate costing $13,000 a month, prosecutors say


Kate Duffy
Fri, January 20, 2023

Elizabeth Holmes lives on an expensive estate while appealing her conviction, prosecutors said in a court filing.CNBC/Getty Images

Elizabeth Holmes lives on an expensive estate, prosecutors said in a court filing.


They said her estate costs $13,000 a month in upkeep, according to cash statements from Holmes.


The Theranos founder still shows "no remorse to her victims," prosecutors said.


Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes still shows "no remorse to victims" and is living on an estate costing $13,000 a month during her appeal, US prosecutors said.

In a court document filed on Thursday, government lawyers said Holmes had lived on the estate for more than a year. They said the estate costs more than $13,000 to maintain each month, according to cash flow statements Holmes has given to the US probation office, per the document, reviewed by Insider.

After being found guilty of four fraud-related charges, Holmes in November was sentenced to 11.25 years in prison. She appealed her conviction in early December, according to court filings.

Holmes "continues to show no remorse to her victims," the prosecutors said in the document.

Under the justice system, criminal defendants should begin serving their custodial sentence, the prosecutors said in the document. But Holmes wants to relax her travel restrictions due to "vague references" to her partner Billy Evans's work schedule, they added in the document.

Holmes has listed Evans's salary as $0, but has also said that he paid the bills every month, the prosecutors said in the document.

"There are not two systems of justice — one for the wealthy and one for the poor — there is one criminal justice system in this country," they wrote in the document.

The prosecutors said it was time for Holmes to "answer for her crimes committed nearly a decade ago" and "begin serving the term of imprisonment imposed by this Court," per the document.

Holmes, who was depicted in the Hulu drama "The Dropout," which starred Amanda Seyfried, dropped out of Stanford at 19 to start her blood-testing startup Theranos and grew its value to $9 billion. She's expected to report to prison on April 27, 2023.

Elizabeth Holmes attempted to ‘flee’ US after conviction for Theranos fraud, prosecutors allege



Jared Gans
Fri, January 20, 2023 at 5:04 PM MST·2 min read

Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes tried to “flee” the United States a few weeks after her conviction for fraud last year, prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday.

Holmes was found guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud last January for misleading investors about the effectiveness of her startup company’s blood-testing technology. She was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison in November.

Holmes has since appealed her conviction and filed a motion to be released from detention at an estate while her appeal plays out. But prosecutors said in a filing opposing her motion that Holmes has not shown “clear and convincing evidence” that she is not a flight risk, in large part because she allegedly planned a flight to Mexico after being convicted.

Prosecutors said in the filing that Holmes’s legal defense has argued that she has a “flawless” pretrial record but does not mention her “attempt to flee.” They said the government learned on Jan. 23, 2022, that Holmes booked a one-way flight to Mexico scheduled for Jan. 26, but a return flight was not scheduled.

The government then mentioned the trip to Holmes’s defense attorney, and the flight was canceled after that, prosecutors said.

They said they expect Holmes will argue in reply to their filing that she did not actually leave the country, but it is difficult to know what would have happened without government intervention. They said the incentive for Holmes to flee the country has never been higher, and she has the resources to do so.

Theranos received widespread publicity and large investments from numerous prominent figures as a result of Holmes’s claims that her technology could test for a wide array of conditions with a simple blood test only requiring one drop of blood.

But prosecutors said she did not inform investors of defects with the technology.

Holmes is due to surrender herself to custody on April 27.

An attorney for Holmes did not immediately return a request from The Hill for comment.


Elizabeth Holmes bought one-way ticket to Mexico, prosecutors say

TAYLOR DUNN
Fri, January 20, 2023 

A new court filing by the U.S. government opposing Elizabeth Holmes’ motion for release pending appeal shows that Holmes bought a one-way ticket to Mexico set to leave weeks after her fraud conviction.

Holmes, founder of the shuttered blood testing company Theranos, was convicted on Jan. 3, 2022, on four counts of wire fraud for defrauding investors out of millions of dollars. She was acquitted on four other charges and a mistrial was declared in three other charges.

Holmes was sentenced last November to over 11 years in prison and has appealed that decision. In response to her motion for release, prosecutors said in their filing Thursday that she purchased an airline ticket to Mexico scheduled to leave shortly after being convicted last January with no scheduled return.

 Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, Nov. 18, 2022, in San Jose, Calif.
 (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

MORE: Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to just over 11 years in prison

Prosecutors said in their filing that "the government became aware on January 23, 2022" that Holmes had booked a flight to Mexico to depart on January 26, 2022, without a scheduled return trip which was only cancelled after the government raised the unauthorized flight with the defense.

Holmes' partner Billy Evans had flown out on Jan. 26, 2022, and didn't return for six weeks.

MORE: Lawyers give closing arguments in Elizabeth Holmes trial, say she chose 'fraud over business failure'

"The government anticipates Defendant will note in reply that she did not in fact leave the country as scheduled – but it is difficult to know with certainty what Defendant would have done had the government not intervened," the filing states.

The government adds that Holmes failed to meet the burden of proving she was not a flight risk.

The government emailed Holmes' legal team upon becoming aware of the potential trip to which they replied on the same day that "The hope was that the verdict would be different and Ms. Holmes would be able to make this trip to attend the wedding of close friends in Mexico."

The email, obtained by ABC News, continues that "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. But she also had not yet cancelled the trip, amidst everything that has been going on. We will have her do so promptly and will provide you confirmation…"

Holmes' surrender date, April 23, is almost six-months from when the judge delivered her sentence because she had informed the court that she became pregnant with her second child between the guilty verdict and the time of her sentencing hearing. The government argues Holmes already has had a "generous" amount of time before having to report to prison and therefore the court should not grant her motion for release pending her appeal which is a process that could last years.

The government also notes that while facing these serious felony charges awaiting her sentencing, Holmes has lived on an estate "with reportedly more than $13,000 in monthly expenses for upkeep" and alleges that Holmes "continues to show no remorse to her victims."

"There are not two systems of justice—one for the wealthy and one for the poor—there is one criminal justice system in this country. And under that system, the time has come for Elizabeth Holmes to answer for her crimes committed nearly a decade ago, as found by a jury made up of a fair cross section of individuals from this community, and to begin serving the term of imprisonment imposed by this Court as sufficient but not greater than necessary to account for those crimes," the filing states.

Elizabeth Holmes bought one-way ticket to Mexico, prosecutors say originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

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