Lawyers for disgraced entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes said this week they couldn’t afford to pay $250 a month to victims of Theranos, a failed blood test startup, after she was released from prison.
Holmes, 39, was convicted last year of four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud investors about his technology and business deals, and was sentenced in May to 11 years and three months in prison in Texas. was
A federal judge in California last month ordered Holmes and former business partner Ramesh Balwani to pay $452 million in damages to victims of fraud, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch. .
Federal prosecutors last week asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to correct a “clerical error” in court records. One of the proposed amendments would require Holmes to pay $250 a month or at least 10% of his earnings, whichever is greater, after he is released from prison as part of the compensation. is.
Holmes’ attorneys opposed the proposed change in Monday’s filing, saying the court had substantial evidence that she had “limited financial resources.”
Her lawyers also challenged the government’s claim that the change would align with the payment schedule of Balwani, who is being tried separately and is serving almost 13 years in prison for fraud. According to court records, he has to pay at least $1,000 a month after his release from prison.
Holmes and Balwani appealed.
Holmes’ lawyer argued that it was appropriate that the two were treated differently in sentencing. “There is nothing in the records to indicate that the lack of schedule changes after her release was an administrative error,” the filing said.
Lawyers representing Holmes and the U.S. government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Other groups named as victims seeking reparation include RDV Corporation, an investment firm representing the wealthy Michigan DeVos family, which invested $100 million in Theranos, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Don • Includes several investment vehicles associated with Lucas. passed away in 2019.
After dropping out of Stanford University, Holmes raised $945 million for Theranos, a company he founded in 2003. She promised the company would revolutionize medicine with a test that could detect many diseases with just a few drops of blood. But a 2015 investigation by The Wall Street Journal revealed that the company’s blood-testing technology didn’t work, revealing the claim. Theranos disbanded in 2018.
