Apparently, Elizabeth Holmes hoped to make a break for it earlier than heading to jail!
In case you didn’t know, the 38-year-old was convicted on January 3, 2022, for defrauding buyers out of tens of millions by her healthcare start-up Theranos. She falsely purported that its revolutionary expertise may run tons of of medical checks with simply a few drops of blood. Things later got here to a head for Holmes when the Wall Street Journal reported in 2015 that the machines she was promoting, referred to as The Edison, by no means actually labored. Instead of utilizing their supposed machines, the corporate really used exterior expertise and different trickery with a purpose to pretend constructive take a look at outcomes. As a results of the expose, federal regulation enforcement started to analyze Holmes and later indicted her in 2018. You know, it’s the true crime case Amanda Seyfried’s The Dropout is about!
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While on trial, her attorneys tried to persuade jurors that she didn’t know something and by no means meant to defraud her buyers. The disgraced founder even testified that her judgment was off as a result of she was in the midst of an abusive relationship with former Theranos govt Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. Her lawyer, Kevin Downey, additionally stated Holmes by no means cashed out inventory even when the corporate began to harm financially.
However, the jury wasn’t shopping for it. They later discovered her responsible of three counts of wire fraud and one rely of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. This previous November, Holmes was sentenced to greater than 11 years in jail. While she has since appealed the conviction and can begin her sentence on April 27, prosecutors are demanding that she not be allowed to stay free on bail. Why is that? Well, they imagine Holmes is a flight danger now as she apparently made “an attempt to flee the country” final yr!
According to a court docket submitting on Thursday, the federal government came upon that weeks after her conviction, Holmes had bought a ticket to fly to Mexico on January 26, 2022 – with no return flight scheduled. Prosecutors claimed within the submitting, People reported:
“The government became aware on January 23, 2022, that Defendant Holmes booked an international flight to Mexico departing on January 26, 2022, without a scheduled return trip.”
When one of many prosecutors reached out to Holmes’ attorneys Lance Wade, he claimed in an e mail that she booked the flight for an in depth good friend’s marriage ceremony earlier than the jury’s verdict and hoped to make the journey if she was discovered not responsible:
“The hope was that the verdict would be different and Ms. Holmes would be able to make this trip to attend the wedding of close friends in Mexico.”
He then alleged that Holmes forgot to cancel the reservation “amidst everything that has been going on” however swore to have her do it. However, prosecutors didn’t imagine the story and felt she was making an attempt to flee the nation. The movement reportedly argued:
“Only after the government raised this unauthorized flight with defense counsel was the trip canceled.”
Per People, prosecutors stated they plan on Holmes responding “that she did not in fact leave the country as scheduled” however they discover “it is difficult to know with certainty” if she would have escaped with out anybody stepping in. They added that “the incentive to flee has never been higher” and Holmes “has the means to act on that incentive.”
Furthermore, the submitting famous that her husband, Billy Evans, did go away the nation on the January 26 flight to Mexico and returned six weeks later, flying again from Cape Town, South Africa. Adding to their argument, prosecutors really feel Holmes “continues to show no remorse to her victims” – particularly those that misplaced tens of millions in investments in Theranos.
Wow. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know within the feedback under!
[Image via CNBC/YouTube]