Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has asked President Donald Trump for an early release from prison after being convicted of defrauding investors, according to a request filed last year with the Department of Justice.
Holmes was convicted in 2022 and reported to a federal prison in Texas in 2023 to serve out her 11-year sentence. Her sentence will end in 2031.
Last year, a U.S. appeals court upheld the convictions of Holmes and Theranos President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. It also upheld the $452 million in restitution that Holmes and Balwani were ordered to pay to victims.
Holmes had started Theranos as a college student, and quickly rose to fame in Silicon Valley. Theranos–which was once valued at $9 billion– claimed its technology could accurately and efficiently test for conditions like cancer and diabetes with just a few drops of blood. It attracted $945 million in financing, a board of well-known political figures and prominent retail partners.
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However, a Wall Street Journal investigation called to question the company’s testing methods and capabilities.
In 2018, Holmes and Balwani were each charged with a dozen counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Both pleaded not guilty. Holmes is currently serving out her sentence at Federal Prison Camp Bryan, a minimum security federal prison camp approximately 100 miles from Houston.
The White House does not comment on clemency requests, and the final decision on any pardons or commutations rests with the president, according to CNN, which cites a White House official.
Trump made a number of high profile pardons in his second term, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge in 2023, and Ross Ulbricht, who had been serving a life sentence for creating the Silk Road dark web marketplace.
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Last year, Holmes’ partner Billy Evans reportedly raised millions of dollars for his new company Haemanthus. Haemanthus had been pitched as a health-testing company that can make diagnoses from users’ blood, urine and saliva–a pitch that is strikingly similar to Theranos.
Haemanthus’ marketing materials show that the company’s technology will use a laser to scan blood, saliva or urine from pets and “analyze the samples on a molecular level.” While several investors had passed on the pitch, Evans managed to raise almost $20 million from friends and other investors.
In recent months, Holmes gained renewed attention online after posts again began appearing on her X account, including a recent post praising president Donald Trump’s health care affordability effort. The Holmes account notes that posts are “mostly my words, posted by others.” It’s not clear who is managing the account.