Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of the failed blood-testing startup Theranos, has petitioned President Donald Trump to commute her 11-year prison sentence, according to a notice on the US Justice Department website. The request, submitted last year, is listed as pending in the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
Holmes, 41, began serving her sentence in May 2023 at a federal prison in Texas. She was convicted in January 2022 on four counts of fraud and conspiracy for misleading investors about her company's technology, which she falsely claimed could diagnose multiple diseases from a few drops of blood. Her current release date is March 2032.
Theranos was once valued at $9 billion, but the technology never worked. Holmes and her former partner and chief operating officer, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, were ordered to repay $452 million to victims, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Prosecutors described the case as among the most substantial white-collar crimes in Silicon Valley history.
Holmes, a mother of two young children, is permitted visits from her husband and children while incarcerated. She continues to appeal her conviction and sentence from behind bars. The White House did not immediately comment on the commutation request.
