Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes appears to have had her prison sentence for defrauding investors shortened by nearly two years.
The Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) database shows Holmes’ projected release date is 29 December 2032, nine years and seven months after she reported to the minimum security Camp Bryan federal prison in Texas on 30 May this year.
The 39-year-old mother-of-two, identified as federal prisoner 24965-111, was sentenced to 11 years and three months, and it’s unclear why her term has suddenly been cut.
A BOP spokesperson told The Independent they could not comment on the release plans of an individual inmate due to privacy and security.
According to the BOP, prisoners can be granted early release for good behaviour, completion of substance abuse programmes or receive credit for “productive activites”.
The spokesperson told The Independent that every inmate earns a sentence discount of 54 days per year for every year they are deemed to have met good conduct requirements under the First Step Act.
These are automatically projected into their release dates, the spokesperson said.
Prisoners can also seek early release or clemency on compassionate grounds due to old age and medical conditions via a court order.
Inmates can also qualify for release up to 12 months early if they complete a Residential Drug Abuse Program, the spokesperson said.
Holmes was convicted in January 2022 on four counts of fraud and conspiracy for lying about the capabilities of her biotech company’s blood testing technology and conning investors out of millions of dollars.
Holmes reported for prison in May— (Associated Press)
She was sentenced to 11 years three months in November last year, and exhausted all legal efforts to have the start of the prison term delayed.
She continues to appeal her sentence and conviction from behind bars.
Holmes and her former partner and Theranos COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who was convicted at a separate trial of 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy, were also ordered to repay victims $452m.
Out-of-pocket investors included Rupert Murdoch, who is owed $125m, and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
In June, Holmes claimed she could not afford to pay $250 per month restitution.
The former Theranos CEO leaving the federal court in San Jose, California in March— (AP)
Holmes dropped out of Stanford University at the age of 19 to found Theranos.
She claimed to have developed medical devices that could diagnose hundreds of diseases and medical conditions with just a pinprick of blood.
Theranos attracted high-powered board members and investors including former Cabinet secretaries George Shultz, Henry Kissinger and James Mattis.
She was named the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at age 30, after Theranos was valued at $9bn.
But when it emerged that the blood testing technology didn’t do what she claimed it did, the company imploded and she was charged with fraud and conspiracy in 2018.
At sentencing last year, prosecutors described her offending as among the most “substantial white collar offences Silicon Valley or any other district has seen”.
Holmes is permitted visits from her husband Billy Evans and two children William, two, and four-month-old daughter Invicta.
