Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes’s Bid to Stay Out of Prison Is Denied

The federal judge who oversaw the criminal-fraud trial of Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes denied her request to stay out of prison while she appeals her guilty verdict.

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila said in a court filing late Monday that he denied Ms. Holmes’s request because he didn’t think her arguments for reversing her conviction or getting a new trial raise issues significant enough to merit a different outcome.

Ms. Holmes was found guilty on three counts of fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud against Theranos investors in January 2022. Judge Davila sentenced her in November to more than 11 years in prison and ordered her to surrender to prison April 27. The court recommended that she serve her time at a federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, that allows for family visitation, which it said “enhances rehabilitation.”

Ms. Holmes, the disgraced founder and chief executive of the blood-testing startup, is appealing the guilty verdict and asked to stay out of prison while her case winds its way through that process. She now could take her request directly to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has already denied Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani’s request to stay out of prison while he appeals his conviction for defrauding Theranos investors and patients.