According to a report from The Mercury News, new court documents have revealed that infamous Theranos scammer Elizabeth Holmes has given birth to her second child — a development that Holmes' legal team is hoping will help keep their client out of prison, at least for the time being.
The Stanford dropout, who was convicted of defrauding investors to the tune of $144 million back in January 2022, is currently scheduled to begin her 11-year sentence on April 27. And while it's unclear when Holmes actually had the baby — Mercury News says that in the filing, Holmes is simply referred to as the "mother of two young children" — the ex-CEO and her lawyers are hoping that the birth bolsters the defense's ongoing fight to keep the convicted felon out of prison until her appeal process, which could take up to a year, is complete.
But baby or no baby — or two babies, as the case may be — the prosecution doesn't seem to be budging. They believe Holmes is a flight risk, arguing that the fraudster had been planning to use a one-way ticket to Mexico to flee her sentencing.
For her part, Holmes claimed that she just wanted to go to a close friend's wedding. You know, what we all buy one-ways out of the country for.
To the Forbes cover alum's credit — as blogger Chris Bakke put it, the "Forbes to minimum security prison pipeline" — we can't imagine being a new mother, let alone a mother at all, and having to leave your children to do over a decade in prison.
That said, Holmes did commit serious crimes, which not only defrauded wealthy investors but also negatively impacted the everyday individuals who trusted their health and their lives to the half-baked tech. Of the millions of women in prison, roughly 80 percent, as of 2021, are mothers, and many of those women are locked up for charges less serious than Holmes; those women are also less likely to have access to the childcare resources that Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, can afford, both during and after their sentences.
If Holmes does achieve an extension in light of her family situation, it would only be right that other women in the American prison system have access to that same privilege. (Not that we're actually expecting that much of the US prison industrial complex.)
Of course, only time will tell. But if we were Holmes, we wouldn't hold our breath.
READ MORE: Elizabeth Holmes gives birth to second child while seeking to further delay imprisonment [The Mercury News]
More on Elizabeth Holmes' legal journey: We're Losing It at Elizabeth Holmes' Excuse for Why Theranos Results Made No Sense
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