Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes begins prison sentence

Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors over technology used in her blood-testing start-up company

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes arrives to begin serving her prison sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas. Reuters

Disgraced Theranos chief executive Elizabeth Holmes on Tuesday was taken into custody at a Texas prison, where she is beginning an 11-year sentence after being convicted in one of the biggest Silicon Valley scandals in history.

Holmes has been incarcerated at Federal Prison Camp Bryan, a low-security women's prison located about 160 kilometres from her hometown of Houston.

She turned herself in and entered the prison camp located in Bryan, Texas, leaving behind two young children – a son born in July 2021 and a three-month-old daughter. She had filed an appeal to delay the start of her sentence but the judge rejected her request.

In November, Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors in her blood-testing start-up Theranos.

Along with her then-partner Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, Holmes duped investors into believing that Theranos would transform the health industry by identifying disorders and diseases with a simple finger prick.

Balwani is currently serving a nearly 13-year prison sentence in California.

Such was the hype surrounding Theranos and the woman who sought an image similar to that of Steve Jobs that the board accumulated prominent members, including former secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former defence secretary Jim Mattis.

But Theranos collapsed after a series of reports published by The Wall Street Journal in 2015 uncovered flaws in the company's technology that caused it to deliver inaccurate results.

Holmes and Balwani were accused of deliberately misleading investors about the technology.

During her trial, Holmes admitted to making mistakes as chief executive of Theranos but denied that she had committed any crimes. While giving evidence, she also claimed that she had been abused by Balwani.

Theranos was valued at more than $10 billion at its peak in 2013.

Agencies contributed to this report