Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos and now a convicted criminal, is begging the court to delay her prison sentence after the birth of her second child.
Holmes, the turtle-neck-sporting, baritone-voiced CEO who rocketed to fame after she claimed to have invented a machine capable of completing hundreds of different types of blood tests from just a few drops of a patient’s blood, is currently facing an 11-year prison stint after being found guilty of defrauding her company’s investors. She was due to carry out her sentence in April 2023, but her lawyers have now filed a plea to delay the time she must serve behind bars as they go through the appeals process.
And they’re using the disgraced tech genius’ latest pregnancy as a bargaining chip. Holmes, who is in a relationship with hotel heir Billy Evans, recently gave birth to her second child. The couple already have a son together, which Holmes gave birth to during her trial, but the arrival of baby number two has prompted her legal team to ask for a sentencing delay while they fight to overturn her conviction.
Her lawyers are arguing that Holmes is “neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community” because she would never willingly leave her children to escape justice but prosecutors seem concerned that her connection to Evans means she has the means to flee the country if she remains free during the appeal process. According to court filings, Holmes was accused of booking a one-way ticket to Mexico shortly after her conviction, and, should she remain free, she’d be spending her time on Evans’ estate, racking up $13,000 a month in living expenses.
Yeah, we’d find every excuse to avoid exposed toilets and prison food too if we were living that good.
(Via The Guardian)