An appeals court in California has denied a plea by disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, currently serving a prison sentence, to have her 2022 conviction overturned.
Holmes, who founded the billion-dollar blood testing company at the age of 19 in 2003, was convicted of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in 2022.
She was convicted alongside Sunny Balwani, her ex-boyfriend and the former president of Theranos. Balwani’s appeal of his conviction, which resulted in a prison sentence of 13 years, was rejected along with Holmes’s.
In an opinion filed in a California court on Monday, Feb. 24, three judges ruled that the issues Holmes raised about her trial, and the grounds on which she sought her sentence be overturned, were not valid.
Holmes argued that the trial judge improperly allowed former employees of Theranos to testify as expert witnesses, but the opinion filed on Monday held that the former employees spoke from their own experiences, and not as experts.
While “some aspects of the testimonies veered into expert territory,” read part of the opinion, “any error was harmless.”
The judges also dismissed Holmes’ claims that a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services report, which was presented in court during trial, misled the jury.
Holmes had further claimed the district court violated her rights when they denied her access to cross-examine a former Theranos laboratory director, but the opinion held that limiting that access was justifiable.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and attorney, tells PEOPLE this denial likely dooms Holmes’ chances of having her conviction reversed.
“The is likely the end of the road for Holmes. She gets one appeal as of right, and this was it,” Rahmani says, adding that while there may be options for other appeals, “only a small percentage” of those result in even a hearing.
After Holmes’ appeal was denied, prosecutors denied comment to us.
Holmes is currently serving nine years of her sentence in a Texas federal prison after her 11-year sentence was reduced due to good behavior. She recently opened up to us about her life behind bars and her children.
