Elizabeth Holmes Defiantly Vows to 'Fight for My Freedom' After Her Appeal Was Denied (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Elizabeth Holmes with her mother Noel Holmes enters the courthouse for her sentencing hearing on November 18, 2022 in San Jose, California.Photo:Amy Osborne / AFP

Amy Osborne / AFP

“I am more determined than ever to fight for my freedom," Holmes says, writing via email from a federal prison in Texas. “And I know that when the truth finally comes out I will be proven innocent.”

Holmes, who founded thebillion-dollar blood testing companyat the age of 19 in 2003, was convicted of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud over the collapse of her company. She was convicted alongside her former business and romantic partnerRamesh “Sunny” Balwani. The appeal of his conviction, which resulted in a prison sentence of 13 years, was also rejected in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco the same day. The two are still ordered to pay$452 million in restitution.

Now the41-year-old mother of two small children, wears drab khaki prison garb, with her blonde hair pulled back, bare makeup and a silver cross around her neck— speaking in a voice notably softer than the throaty baritone she was known for.

“I’m not the same person I was back then,” saidHolmes in PEOPLE’s February 2025 cover story,who pleaded not guilty at her trial and maintains her innocence today, albeit while vaguely acknowledging “there are things I would have done differently” on her path to lockup.

Holmes began serving her 11-year sentence (reduced to nine for good behavior) in May 2023 at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan, Texas. Her listed release date at the Federal Bureau of Prisons is currentlyMarch 19, 2032.

Holmes asked the court to toss out her conviction and grant a new trial, arguing that prosecutors presented key testimony during the four-month trial from Theranos’ final lab director that was “infected with error.”

The Justice Department countered that Das wasn’t providing an expert opinion, but rather testifying about what he saw at the company while he worked there and relayed to his boss Holmes at the time. The judges' opinion 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 also claimed the district court violated her rights when they denied her access to cross-examine, but the opinion held that limiting that access was justifiable.

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and attorney,told PEOPLEthis denial likely dooms Holmes’s chances of having her conviction reversed.

“This is likely the end of the road for Holmes. She gets one appeal as of right, and this was it,” Rahmani said, adding that while there may be options for other appeals, “only a small percentage” of those result in even a hearing.

After her appeal was denied, prosecutors declined to comment to PEOPLE. Her defense has not responded for comment.

As for Holmes, she’s still processing the downfall that wiped away her entire fortune and she considers her trial and conviction in a San Jose courtroom in 2022 to be a miscarriage of justice.

“First it was about accepting it happened,” said Holmes about her relationship with Balwani toPEOPLE in February 2025. “Then it was about forgiving myself for my own part. [And] I refused to plead guilty to crimes I did not commit. Theranos failed. But failure is not fraud.”

source: people.com