By John Ikani
Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of Theranos, has begun her 11-year prison sentence as she reported to a federal facility in Bryan, Texas.
This comes after Holmes, 39, was last year convicted on four counts of fraud related to the failure of her blood testing start-up.
Her request to remain free on bail while her conviction was under challenge was denied by the court in mid-May.
The minimum-security prison in Texas, located approximately 100 miles north of her hometown of Houston, will be Holmes’ place of confinement.
The facility typically holds between 500 and 700 inmates.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed her arrival at the facility but provided no additional information, citing privacy concerns.
Once touted as the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, Holmes will now join other inmates in performing work for wages ranging from 12 cents (10p) to $1.15 (93p) per hour.
A significant portion of her earnings will go towards restitution payments mandated by the court to compensate her victims.
Earlier this month, a US judge ordered both Holmes and her former partner, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, to pay $452 million (£364 million) to the victims.
Balwani is already serving a 13-year prison sentence in California for his involvement in the fraudulent scheme.
Holmes and Balwani stand accused of deceiving influential investors, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch and former US Treasury Secretary George Shultz, into supporting Theranos.
The company, once valued at $9 billion, claimed to have developed technology capable of detecting medical conditions like diabetes with just a few drops of blood.
However, the technology ultimately proved non-functional, leading to the company’s collapse in 2018.
Eileen Lupera, an investor who suffered financial losses due to her involvement with Theranos, expressed satisfaction with Holmes’ 11-year sentence, stating, “Her hubris is beyond belief. I don’t believe she’s still taking any responsibility for what has happened.”
