Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reaches federal prison to start 11-year sentence

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reached the federal prison on Tuesday to start her 11-year sentence. 39-year-old Holmes was last year convicted on four counts of fraud related to her failed blood testing start-up.

In mid-May, a request for bail made by Holmes was rejected by a court while they considered a challenge filed against the original conviction.

The founder will be serving her prison sentence in a minimum-security prison in Texas.

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Holmes reached the federal facility in Bryan, Texas on Tuesday. The prison currently has around 500 and 700 inmates. The prison is located about 100 miles (160km) north of Houston, which is her hometown.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed her arrival at the facility, which refused to give any more details about Holmes' imprisonment, citing privacy concerns.

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In the prison, Holmes,who was once considered as the youngest self-made billionaire in the world, may have to work alongside other prison inmates for earning a mere 12 cents (10p) and $1.15 (93p) an hour. A large amount of money earned by Holmes in prison will go towards her court-mandated restitution payments.

Holmes' partner serves prison sentence

Earlier in May, Holmes and her former romantic and business partner, ex-Theranos boss Ramesh 'Sunny'Balwani were ordered by a US judge to pay $452 million to victims.

Balwani has been serving 13-year imprisonment in California for the role he played in the scam.

The pair together have been accused of duping some of the most prominent and richest investors of the world,which includes media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and former US Treasury Secretary George Shultz,who had backed Theranos.

The firm, which was once valued at $9 billion, had promised to be possessing the technology which can detect health conditions like diabetes with just a few drops of blood. However, the technology never came to work. Finally, the company collapsed in 2018.

Texas prison camp

The Texas prison camp, where Holmes has been imprisoned, is a sprawling 37-acre facility. Most inmates in the prison have been convicted for low-level drug dealing, non-violent crimes or white-collar offences.

WATCH |Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to 11 years in prison for defrauding investors

According to the handbook of the facility, a prisoner is generally busy with work and extracurricular activities which include foreign language, computer literacy or business courses.

Holmes had made all possible efforts to stay out of prison. She had stated that a delay would permit her to raise "substantial questions" about the case which could warrant a new trial.

(With inputs from agencies)

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