Disgraced Theranos co-founder Elizabeth Holmes’ prison sentence has been reduced by two years, according to the Bureau of Prisons records. Holmes was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison for defrauding investors by claiming her blood-testing company provided quick and reliable results but she was found to have lied about the reliability of those tests.
Holmes surrendered to the Bureau of Prisons in California on May 30 to serve out her sentence at a minimum-security all-female federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas. Less than two months after she reported to prison, her sentence was quietly changed, with her new release date scheduled for December 29, 2032, the Bureau’s site says. The Bureau has not provided additional information for why Holmes’ projected release date was shortened, but its site says an inmate’s good behavior, substance abuse program completion, and time credits they receive for activities and programs they’ve completed can result in a lessened sentence.
Only last month, Theranos’ former president and chief operating officer Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani’s 13-year sentence was likewise reduced by two years, making his new projected release date April 11, 2034.
In addition to their prison sentences, Holmes and Balwani were also ordered to pay more than $452 million in restitution. Holmes, who once boasted of having $4.5 million at the height of her supposed success, now claims to have no money, and her lawyers objected to the restitution, saying the $250 per month wouldn’t be feasible following her release.
Holmes’s reduced sentence appears to be the latest in a string of leniencies granted to her by the court system including being allowed to remain at her California estate while she appealed her prison sentence, rather than waiting behind bars.
Theranos collapsed in 2018 after an explosive investigative piece by the Wall Street Journal revealed that Holmes had made false claims that the blood-testing technology was accurate. The startup ran hundreds of medical tests using only a drop of blood from the customers, but many claimed they were misdiagnosed including one man who said he was misdiagnosed as having HIV while another said his results falsely told him his blood clotting was normal, so he stopped taking his blood thinners.
Holmes is serving out her remaining nine-year sentence at FPC Bryan, an all-female prison camp, where the women adhere to a strict schedule requiring them to begin work at 6 a.m. each day. Those who are considered eligible to work are assigned jobs earning between 12 cents and $1.15 an hour in roles like food service and factory employment.