A new court filing by the U.S. government opposing Elizabeth Holmes’ motion for release pending appeal reveals that Holmes had bought a one-way ticket to Mexico set to leave shortly after her fraud conviction. Holmes, the founder of the shuttered blood testing company Theranos, was convicted on January 3, 2022, on four counts of wire fraud for defrauding investors out of millions of dollars. She was acquitted on four other charges and a mistrial was declared in three other charges.
Holmes was sentenced last November to over 11 years in prison and has appealed that decision. In response to her motion for release, prosecutors said in their filing that she had purchased an airline ticket to Mexico scheduled to leave shortly after being convicted last January with no scheduled return. The government became aware of this on January 23, 2022, and said in their filing that the ticket was only cancelled after the government raised the unauthorized flight with the defense.
Additionally, Holmes’ partner Billy Evans had flown out on January 26, 2022, and did not return for six weeks. Prosecutors argued that this demonstrated Holmes’ intention to flee the country and that she had failed to meet the burden of proving she was not a flight risk.
The government also revealed that they had been informed by Holmes’ legal team that the “hope was that the verdict would be different and Ms. Holmes would be able to make this trip to attend the wedding of close friends in Mexico.” However, given the verdict, she did not plan to take the trip and had not yet cancelled the trip amidst everything that has been going on.
The court filing also states that “It is difficult to know with certainty what Defendant would have done had the government not intervened.” The government adds that Holmes failed to meet the burden of proving she was not a flight risk.
The revelation of Holmes’ attempt to leave the country after her conviction raises serious questions about her intentions and underscores the government’s opposition to her motion for release pending appeal.
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