Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes delays prison by filing another appeal

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Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has delayed starting her prison sentence for defrauding Silicon Valley investors by filing yet another appeal over her conviction.

Holmes had been due to self-report to a prison camp on 27 April to begin the 11.25-year sentence she was handed after a jury convicted her on multiple counts related to her fraudulent blood-testing start-up.

Now her lawyers have informed US District Judge Edward Davila that instead of entering prison she has appealed a decision he made earlier this month ordering her to begin her sentence later this week.

The appeal was filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday and automatically delays the reporting date for Holmes, who has been free on bail since her conviction in November, according to the Associated Press.

Holmes, 39, has two young children, the first of whom was born before her 2021 fraud trial and the second who was born after her November sentencing.

Judge Davila had recommended Holmes be imprisoned at a low-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas, but it has not been confirmed that is where she will serve her sentence.

The appeal is similar to the one used by her former employee and lover Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who is now serving a nearly 13-year prison sentence in federal prison after he was convicted of 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy.

He was able to remain free for almost a month until the Ninth Circuit rejected his appeal.

In her own appeal lawyers for Holmes claim that the judge’s ruling contained “numerous, inexplicable errors” and says she should remain free while she appeals her conviction as it is “likely to result in reversal.”

The government has been given 10 days to respond to the motion, while the judge in her case has previously turned down multiple requests from Holmes for a new trial.

Holmes started Theranos after dropping out of Stanford University, but the company collapsed in 2018 after it was revealed that its technology did not work.