Health Care

Elizabeth Holmes gets shortened prison sentence for Theranos fraud  

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the now-defunct company Theranos, has received a shortened prison sentence for her role in a blood-testing hoax in which she touted false claims about her company’s technology.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed to The Hill that Holmes, 39, has a projected release date of Dec. 29, 2032. This is around two years shorter than her initial release date.   

A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons stated they cannot comment on the conditions of an inmate’s confinement for “privacy, safety and security reasons,” but added every inmate can earn good conduct time that “is projected in their projected release date.”  

Holmes reported to federal prison May 30 in Bryan, Texas, to begin what was originally an 11-year sentence for fraud and conspiracy after making false statements about Theranos’s blood-testing technology.  

The Stanford University dropout advertised her former company with claims of having technology to test patients for various diseases and conditions with only a few drops of blood. With these claims, the company was able to raise nearly $1 billion from investors. 


Holmes was convicted in 2022 on three counts of wire fraud against Theranos investors and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was sentenced in November of last year.  

Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, Holmes’s former romantic partner and Theranos chief operating officer, began his nearly 13-year prison sentence in April for his role in the hoax.   

The Associated Press contributed to this report.