Elizabeth Holmes has launched an appeal against what her lawyers say is an “unjust” conviction over the Theranos scandal.
The 39-year-old was convicted of four counts of fraud in January 2022 and sentenced to an 11-year jail term last November.
Earlier this month she lost a bid to stay out of prison while she appealed against her conviction, meaning she must report to prison on 27 April.
She has now filed an appeal against her conviction, arguing the case against her “parroted the public narrative” that she knowingly and intentionally misrepresented to investors the capabilities of Theranos technology.
She started Theranos with the promise of delivering revolutionary blood-testing technology that could check for dozens of diseases at once.
She raised nearly $1bn (£840m) from a host of high-profile investors, and the company was once valued at $9bn (£7.3bn).
Holmes became America’s youngest-ever self-made female billionaire by 2014, but the tech was exposed as bogus and the company quickly came crashing down.
In the appeal filed on Monday, her lawyers argue the narrative of knowing misrepresentation that inspired documentaries, podcasts and a TV drama was different to what played out in reality.
“Highly credentialed Theranos scientists told Holmes in real time the technology worked. Outsiders who reviewed the technology said it worked,” her lawyers wrote.
“Theranos’ groundbreaking developments received many patents. And in 2015 the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved an assay on Theranos’ proprietary technology,” the filing continued.
Read more:
How Elizabeth Holmes went from billionaire to behind bars
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The lawyers also argued the government committed violations during its prosecution, which the judged “indulged” as he “abus[ed]” his discretion, according to the filing.
They argued key excluded testimony from Holmes’ co-defendant, Sunny Balwani, implicated Balwani in running the company’s finances.
The jury’s guilty verdict for Holmes was “unjust,” the lawyers wrote.
If they are not successful in getting a new trial, Holmes and her lawyers are also seeking a reduction to her sentence, which they called “severe” and erroneously decided.
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