Elizabeth Holmes, the former Theranos founder who still has nearly six years left of her 11-year prison sentence, has asked US President Donald Trump to release her early.
France24 reports that her request follows her 2022 conviction on wire fraud and conspiracy charges, and comes after a federal appeals court upheld her sentence last year.
The request by the founder of the now-defunct blood-testing startup sought to commute her 11¼-year sentence last year, and her request remains pending, according to the US Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney.
Now 41, Holmes was convicted in 2022 on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy for cheating investors and was ordered to pay $452m in restitution. A federal appeals court upheld her conviction and sentence in February.
Prosecutors said she had lied to investors from 2010 to 2015 by promising Theranos’ technology could run many medical tests on one blood drop from a finger prick.
The company was once valued at $9bn, and her estimated net worth was apparently $4.5bn in 2015.
Holmes would still owe restitution if Trump released her from prison, but she would not owe it if he pardoned her.
Currently housed at a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas, she is eligible for release in December 2031.
The White House declined to comment and lawyers for Holmes did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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