Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes may have tried to flee the country after her 2022 fraud conviction.
According to a new court filing obtained by Rolling Stone, prosecutors allege the 38-year-old convict had booked a one-way flight to Mexico departing on Jan. 26 of last year. Authorities say they learned about the unauthorized trip just weeks after Holmes was found guilty of defrauding investors of nearly $145 million, raising suspicion she had no intentions of returning to the U.S. to face sentencing.
“Only after the government raised this unauthorized flight with defense counsel was the trip canceled,” the filing read. “The government anticipates Defendant will note in reply that she did not in fact leave the country as scheduled—but it is difficult to know with certainty what Defendant would have done had the government not intervened.”
Prosecutors also pointed out that Holmes’ husband, Billy Evans, had left the country on the same day as the aforementioned Mexico flight, and did not return for several weeks.
Holmes’ attorney, Lance Wade, insisted his client had booked the tickets prior to the verdict, but failed to cancel or inform the feds about the trip.
“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,” Wade wrote in a letter submitted last year. “Given the verdict, she does not plan to take the trip — and therefore did not provide notice, seek permission, or request access to her passport (which the government has) for the trip. But she also had not yet cancelled the trip, amidst everything that has been going on. We will have her do so promptly.”
Homes was sentenced to 11 years in prison for her role in the Theranos scandal. The D.C. native was accused of deceiving investors about the company’s blood-testing technology, ultimately racking in $945 million from moguls like Rupert Murdoch, Betsy DeVos, and Larry Ellison.
“There are not two systems of justice — one for the wealthy and one for the poor — there is one criminal justice system in this country,” prosecutors wrote in the filing, adding it was time for Theranos founder to answer for her crimes.
Holmes is scheduled to turn herself into custody on April 27.
