Prosecutors deem Holmes a flight risk

Elizabeth Holmes is a flight risk and shouldn’t be allowed to stay out of prison while she appeals her 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors, federal prosecutors said in court documents.

Holmes had a one-way plane ticket to Mexico booked for Jan. 26, 2022, three weeks after being convicted by a jury on four counts of fraud and conspiracy, federal prosecutors said in a motion filed Thursday in federal court in San Jose.

Holmes, who was CEO of Theranos during the company’s turbulent 15-year history, was convicted in a scheme that revolved

around the company’s claims to have developed a medical device that could detect a multitude of diseases and conditions from a few drops of blood. But the technology never worked, and the claims were false.

Holmes booked the 2022 flight without a scheduled return trip and only canceled it after prosecutors contacted Holmes’ attorneys about the “unauthorized flight,” prosecutors said. In a Jan. 23, 2022, email responding to prosecutors’ concerns about the planned trip, her lawyers said Holmes had booked it before the jury’s verdict to attend a wedding in Mexico.

On November 17, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila sentenced Homes to more than 11 years in prison. Davila ordered Holmes, who is pregnant, to report to prison on April 27, giving her enough time to give birth to her second child before she is incarcerated.

Holmes is scheduled to return to court on March 17 for a hearing on her request to stay out of prison while she appeals her conviction.