Elizabeth Holmes to report to Texas prison to begin 11-year Theranos sentence - latest

Elizabeth Holmes is set to report to prison this week to begin her 11-year sentence for the blood-testing scam at the heart of her start-up, Theranos.

Earlier in May, a federal appeals court rejected her bid to remain out of prison while she attempts to overturn her January 2022 conviction on four felony counts of fraud and conspiracy.

Holmes had asked a federal judge to allow her to remain free through the Memorial Day weekend before surrendering to authorities on 30 May.

A delay was granted to give Holmes time to sort out several issues, including child care for her one-year-old son William and three-month-old daughter Invicta. Holmes had originally been ordered to begin her prison sentence on 27 April.

The father of both children is William “Billy” Evans, whom she met after breaking up with her former romantic and business partner, Ramesh “Sunny,” Balwani, who began serving a nearly 13-year prison sentence last month in Southern California.

Balwani was convicted of 12 felony counts of fraud and conspiracy committed while he was Theranos' chief operating officer.

Holmes is expected to be incarcerated in Bryan, Texas, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of her hometown of Houston.

Key points

• As Holmes heads to prison for fraud, questions remain about her motives

• Holmes ordered to pay $125m back to Rupert Murdoch

• Court rejects Holmes’ motion to stay out of prison

• Holmes says actors are playing a ‘character I created’ in dramatisations of her downfall

• Holmes says she’s working on new inventions but admits ‘mistakes’ in first interview post trial

As Holmes heads to prison for fraud, questions remain about her motives

20:53 , Oliver O'Connell

As Elizabeth Holmes prepares to report to prison next week, the criminal case that laid bare the blood-testing scam at the heart of her Theranos startup is entering its final phase.

The 11-year sentence represents a comeuppance for the wide-eyed woman who broke through “tech bro” culture to become one of Silicon Valley’s most celebrated entrepreneurs, only to be exposed as a fraud. Along the way, Holmes became a symbol of the shameless hyperbole that often saturates startup culture.

But questions still linger about her true intentions — so many that even the federal judge who presided over her trial seemed mystified. And Holmes’ defenders continue to ask whether the punishment fits the crime.

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As Elizabeth Holmes heads to prison for fraud, questions remain about her motives