Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was denied bail yesterday while she appeals, meaning she will soon begin serving time in federal prison on her fraud conviction. The judge, Edward Davila, determined that the relevant crime being one among several, freedom is not an option. Holmes' decision to become a parent while facing trial and sentencing didn't factor into the ruling.
The decision Monday by US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, is likely his last in the case which he's handled since Holmes was indicted in 2018. Davila presided over the Theranos Inc. founder's four-month trial in 2021 and sentenced her in November to serve 11 1/4 years of incarceration for deceiving investors in her blood-testing startup.
Davila described her purchase of one-way flights to Mexico as "ill-advised" but not an attempt to flee, though he remarked on Holmes' distinctive blend of arrogance and indifference.
In a further reference to the Mexico flight, Davila wrote in the filing: "Booking international travel plans for a criminal defendant in anticipation of a complete defense victory is a bold move, and the failure to promptly cancel those plans after a guilty verdict is a perilously careless oversight."