Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes tried to flee the U.S. after a jury convicted her of felony fraud in early 2022, federal prosecutors alleged in a new court filing.
“Holmes booked an international flight to Mexico departing on January 26, 2022, without a scheduled return trip,” the document from prosecutors, filed Thursday, said. It was only after government prosecutors contacted Holmes’ legal team about the “unauthorized flight” that the trip was cancelled.
“The government anticipates (Holmes) will note in reply that she did not in fact leave the country as scheduled — but it is difficult to know with certainty what (she) would have done had the government not intervened,” the filing said.
Holmes’ partner, hotel heir Billy Evans, left the county on that day in January with a one-way ticket and didn’t return for six weeks.
Holmes, 38, was convicted after a four-month trial on four counts of fraud for bilking investors in her now-defunct blood-testing startup out of more than $144 million. In November, Judge Edward Davila in U.S. District Court sentenced a pregnant Holmes to more than 11 years in prison, deferring her incarceration until April 27.
Lawyers for Holmes did not immediately respond to prosecutors’ claims.
The prosecution’s allegation that Holmes sought to flee the U.S. came in response to her December motion seeking to delay her imprisonment until the appeals process is finished, which legal experts said could take a year or more. In her motion, Holmes claimed she was not a flight risk.
“The Court has already found that Ms. Holmes is not a flight risk … when it permitted her to remain in the community both before and after conviction,” the motion said. “Ms. Holmes surrendered her passport and is unable to travel internationally. She has been under supervision for over four years.”
The motion added that Holmes did not flee during her court case or “in the immediate aftermath of her conviction or sentencing,” and argued that “no evidence suggests she will flee” while appealing her conviction.
“She has strong ties to her partner and family, including her son and soon-to-be-born child, that incentivize her to comply with her conditions of release,” the motion said.
Prosecutors in their filing countered that Holmes claims do “not account for her attempt to flee the country shortly after she was convicted,” arguing “her incentive to flee has never been higher.” They added that Holmes has asked Davila to ease her restrictions so she can travel outside northern California and possibly out of the state “due to her significant other’s employment.”
For Holmes, prosecutors argued in the filing, “the incentive to flee has never been higher and (she) has the means to act on that incentive.”
Prosecutors’ filing also accused Holmes of posing a danger to the public, saying, her “elaborate fraud scheme” and “lack of remorse and indicated willingness to continue operating in similar fields in the future” mean she can’t provide “clear and convincing evidence that she does not present a danger to the community.”
Holmes argued in December that she is not a threat to the public, and noted that prosecutors never asked that she be imprisoned immediately, either before or after her conviction.
