Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes gave birth to her second child as her lawyers fight to delay her imprisonment, a recent court filing revealed.
Holmes’ legal team gave the first public acknowledgement that she had indeed given birth in a filing late last week while arguing the huckster was not a flight risk.
The lawyers did not say when Holmes gave birth.
“Ms. Holmes has deep ties to the community. She is the mother of two very young children,” the filing said. “She has close relationships with family and friends, many of who submitted letters at sentencing vouching for her good character; and she volunteers with a rape crisis and counseling organization.”
Holmes was visibly pregnant during a failed bid to throw out her conviction last year. Billy Evans, her fiancé and the father of her first child, confirmed her pregnancy in a court filing last November.
Holmes’ first child was born in July 2021, months before she was convicted on multiple counts of fraud for lying to investors about her failed blood-testing startup’s technology and finances. Theranos once drew a whopping $9 billion valuation – only to collapse after the Wall Street Journal revealed its machines couldn’t perform many functions that Holmes claimed.
The birth disclosure was part of an ongoing tug-of-war between Holmes’ attorneys and federal prosecutors over her prison term, which is slated to begin on April 27. Holmes, who has appealed her conviction and sentence, faces more than 11 years in prison.
The Mercury News was first to report on the filing.
Holmes’ attorneys argue she should be allowed to remain free on bail during her appeal because it will raise “substantial issues” about her case that could warrant a new trial. Meanwhile, the feds say Holmes should be required to serve her time as scheduled.
In a filing last month arguing for her immediate imprisonment, prosecutors said Holmes was living a charmed life in a $13,000-per-month estate while “no remorse” for the actions that resulted in her conviction.
“There are not two systems of justice — one for the wealthy and one for the poor — there is one criminal justice system in this country,” government attorneys said in the filing
The feds also made a bombshell allegation that Holmes bought a one-way ticket to Mexico and had planned to flee the country prior to her conviction. Prosecutors allege that Holmes only abandoned the plan after government authorities contacted her team.
Holmes’ attorneys fired back, describing the claim as “baseless” and stating that she had booked the trip because she “hoped to be acquitted and thus to be able to attend the wedding of close friends in Mexico in late January 2022.” The lawyers added that she “did not intend to make the trip” once found guilty.
“Mr. Evans had not yet canceled her ticket when the government inquired about the booking, but there was no way for her to go: Not only did Ms. Holmes’ conditions of release require Court approval for international travel, but the Court has her passport, which was (and still is) expired, and she did not attempt to get a new one,” the lawyers said in a filing last month.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
