Elizabeth Holmes sentencing: Who is Theranos founder, who is her husband and is she in prison?

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
The disgraced Theranos owner was sentenced for misleading investors about her blood-testing startup

Elizabeth Holmes has delayed the start of her 11-year prison sentence again after a previous appeal required her to surrender this week. On Tuesday night, Ms Holmes’ team launched another bid meaning she will remain in custody until a decision is reached on a new trial.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The disgraced Theranos owner was sentenced for misleading investors about her blood-testing startup. Ms Holmes was recently the subject of a Hulu drama called ‘The Dropout’.

Here’s everything you need to know about Elizabeth Holmes including her husband and whether she’s in prison.

Who is Elizabeth Holmes? 

At one point Ms Holmes was said to be the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire valued at $4.5 billion, but her fortunes soon disappeared after the truth of her company Theranos came to light.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 39-year-old was born in Washington DC to Hungarian and Danish ancestry. In 2003, Holmes dropped out of Stanford University and founded blood testing startup Theranos.

The company was founded on the idea of revolutionising blood testing by extracting “vast amounts of data from a few droplets of blood derived from the tip of a finger.” Theranos raised more than $700 million with help from billionaire investors such as Rupert Murdoch.

In 2015, John Carreyrou of the Wall Street Journal uncovered inaccuracies in Theranos’ blood-testing kit and found the company was using machines manufactured by other companies.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Elizabeth Holmes has delayed the start of her 11-year prison sentence againElizabeth Holmes has delayed the start of her 11-year prison sentence again
Elizabeth Holmes has delayed the start of her 11-year prison sentence again | Getty Images

Later, Holmes was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for misrepresenting the accuracy of the company’s blood-testing technology to investors. She ended up forking out a $500,000 fine and accepting a ten-year ban from serving in an executive role of a public company.

In January 2022, Holmes was convicted on three counts of wire fraud and one count of  committing wire fraud. She was found to have defrauded investors and was later sentenced to serve over 11 years in prison.

Who is Elizabeth Holmes’ husband? 

Elizabeth Holmes is married to hotel heir Billy Evans and the pair have two children together. Evans is an heir to the family-owned group of hotels in the San Diego area - Evans Hotels.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Evans graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2015, with a Bachelor of Science in Economics.  He has worked at a self-driving car company as a special projects manager.

Elizabeth Holmes is married to hotel heir Billy EvansElizabeth Holmes is married to hotel heir Billy Evans
Elizabeth Holmes is married to hotel heir Billy Evans | Getty

Is Elizabeth Holmes in prison?

Ms Holmes’ surrender date was scheduled for Thursday, April 22. However, this has been automatically delayed until the court decides on her latest bid against judge Davila’s decision.

Holmes’ team of lawyers argued Davila’s decision was filled with “numerous, inexplicable errors”. They highlighted how the decision referred to “patient fraud counts” despite Holmes being acquitted on related charges.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.