Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes made an “attempt to flee the country” by buying a one-way ticket to Mexico after she was found guilty of four counts of fraud last January, according to prosecutors.
in the new presentation on Thursday, prosecutors said that “contrary to defendant’s assertion that she has an ‘impeccable record with US Pretrial Services’ means to act on that inducement.”
“As an initial matter, the defendant’s record with Pretrial Services and the court does not account for her attempt to flee the country shortly after she was convicted. The government learned on January 23, 2022 that defendant Holmes booked an international flight to Mexico departing on January 26, 2022 with no scheduled return flight,” she said.
Once the government learned of Holmes’s planned trip, prosecutors emailed Holmes’s lawyers. In an email sent by Holmes’ legal team to the government, which ABC News reviewed, Holmes’ lawyers said: “The hope was that the verdict would be different and that Ms. Holmes would be able to make this trip to attend the wedding of close friends in Mexico.”
“Given the verdict, she does not plan to make the trip and therefore did not notify, request permission or request access to her passport (held by the government) for the trip.
“But she hadn’t canceled the trip yet either, in the midst of everything that’s been going on. We will have him do it right away and provide you with a confirmation.”
Prosecutors in the filing said that “it is difficult to know for sure what the defendant would have done if the government had not intervened.”
They also revealed that Holmes’ partner, William Evans, departed on the scheduled date with a one-way ticket. Evans did not return until about six weeks later “from another continent”. Evans’ activities during the trip were not disclosed by prosecutors.
In November, Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for her role at Theranos, the blood-testing firm she founded, which was once valued at more than $9 billion and was later found to be mostly fraudulent. . Holmes was convicted of four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
In a pre-sentence statement, federal judge Edward Davila condemned Holmes and Theranos, calling the entire debacle a “fraud case in which an exciting company moved forward with high expectations and hope, only to be thwarted by misrepresentation, arrogance and lies.
During Holmes’ sentencing, he was ordered to turn himself in to prison on April 27.
The new filing comes as part of prosecutors’ argument that Holmes, who is currently pregnant with her second child, should begin serving her prison sentence instead of living in a California property with alleged monthly maintenance of more than $13,000, prosecutors say.
