Con inventor: Why was Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' jail time slashed?

A recent Bureau of Prisons records show that the founder of healthcare company Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes who was found guilty of fraud, is set to be free two years earlier on December 29, 2032, after serving roughly nine-and-a-half years in incarceration.

Elizabeth Holmes was convicted in 2022 for conspiracy and financial fraud involving claims of blood testing technology and hoodwinking investors of higher returns citing breakthrough technology in blood tests. Her company ceased operation in 2018.

She had claimed that her company has developed a technology which could run the blood tests merely on a single drop, which was not true.

Originally, she was sentenced to 11.25 years in prison, and reported to a minimum-security women's prison in Bryan, Texas, on May 30, 2023. The recent records reveal that Holmes will spend nine years, six months, and 29 days.

Calculating the release date is often tricky as it involves technicalities about good behaviour, jail-time credit and prison laws and policies, among other factors.

Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, Holmes' former boyfriend and one of the leaders of Theranos, got the same reduction and was sentenced to nearly 13 years and now will serve 11 years.

Apart from the sentence, both were directed to pay over $452 million in restitution, however, Holmes' attorneys objected to the restitution-payment plan saying she would be unable to pay the $250 per month following her release from prison.

Earlier, the 39-year-old unsuccessfully fought for the postponement of her sentence citing the young age of her children.

Her first child was born in July 2021 while she was waiting for her trial, and she gave birth to the second child earlier this year, months before she was in prison.