It’s been eight years since the unforgettable Summer of Scam. First, there was Anna Delvey a.k.a. Anna Sorokin, who posed as a German heiress to trick New York’s most important—and wealthiest—people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then there was Elizabeth Holmes, former big-time Silicon Valley techpreneur, who duped investors while wearing her signature black turtleneck.
Like Delvey, whose story was dramatized in Inventing Anna, Holmes got the Hollywood treatment. Oscar nominee Amanda Seyfried starred as Holmes in The Dropout in 2021, and now, the Theranos founder is the subject of Nathan Fielder’s new documentary, You Can See Everything—which follows her inviting cameras into her home in the 34 days leading up to her incarceration—out now in theaters. “What begins as an intimate portrait of an enigmatic felon becomes a mind-bending three-year journey into the abyss,” the film’s official logline reads.
In January 2022, Holmes was found guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud by misleading investors. In November 2022, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison. So how did she get here? The Theranos saga is a twisty one. Here’s everything you need to know.
Who is Elizabeth Holmes?
In 2014, Elizabeth Holmes—then a 30-year-old billionaire entrepreneur—was making history as a bona fide Silicon Valley #GirlBoss. She had dropped out of Stanford at the age of 19, founded a revolutionary biotech company, and landed her first major magazine cover at Fortune. Fitting, given that her blood-testing company Theranos was valued at $9 billion. Some early backers included U.S. Treasury Secretary George Shultz, Rupert Murdoch, and the Walton family.
But by 2016, people began to question Holmes. The Theranos technology simply didn’t work, and Holmes was thought to have lied about her business operations to make money. In 2018, Theranos had all but completely collapsed—and Holmes was deemed a Silicon Valley scammer.
What was Elizabeth Holmes charged with?
In 2018, Elizabeth Holmes and her former Theranos business partner (and ex-boyfriend) Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were charged with nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. An indictment accused the two of plotting to “scheme, plan and artifice to defraud investors as to a material matter,” according to The New York Times.
What was Elizabeth Holmes found guilty of?
On Jan. 3, 2022, Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud by misleading investors. A jury found Holmes not guilty on four other charges connected to fraud. According to NPR, the jury could not reach a decision on three other counts tied to investor fraud.
Who is Elizabeth Holmes in a relationship with?
Elizabeth Holmes is married to hotel heir Billy Evans. They first met at a party back in 2017, and got engaged a year later in 2018. On an episode of Inside the Hive With Nick Bilton, Vanity Fair’s Nick Bilton (who covers Silicon Valley) shed light on the inner workings of their relationship, based on what he heard from ex-Theranos employees.
Elizabeth Holmes with her partner Billy Evans after she was found guilty in her fraud trial on Jan. 3, 2022.
“She doesn’t have any money... he [Billy Evans] is a trust fund baby and has a lot of money, and he is probably helping out with the legal bills, because Elizabeth’s family doesn’t have money either,” Bilton said on the podcast. He added: “Holmes is going to get pregnant before she gets on the stand because she will look very sympathetic as a pregnant woman on the stand.”
In August 2021, it was reported that Holmes and Evans welcomed their first child, William Holmes Evans, in California. Holmes had first informed the court of her pregnancy in March 2021, according to ABC, which delayed her trial.
Elizabeth Holmes during her trial.
Where is Elizabeth Holmes now?
Before her sentence, Holmes remained free on a $500,000 bond while awaiting her fate and was living in a 74-acre, $135 million mansion in Woodside, California, a wealthier town in Silicon Valley. According to CNBC, the property is called “Green Gables,” and it “evokes the image of an enchanted forest with deer running through the property.”
During her time there, Holmes reportedly moved onto her next venture. Vanity Fair reported in 2019 that she met with documentary filmmakers to talk about telling her “real” story.
She also asked for a new trial after claiming that a key witness came to her house unannounced and allegedly said he felt “guilty” about his testimony, CNN reported in 2022. According to a court filing made by Holmes’s attorneys, Adam Rosendorff—a former Theranos lab director and a whistleblower in The Wall Street Journal’s 2015 investigation into the company—visited Holmes' home on Aug. 8, 2022, and spoke to her husband. Holmes’ lawyers said the impromptu visit counted as new evidence and requested a new trial.
But on Nov. 18, 2022, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila sentenced Holmes to 11 years in prison, which is shorter than the 15-year penalty requested by federal prosecutors. She faced a maximum sentence of 20 years. Holmes must also pay $452 million in restitution from the $1 billion she raised from investors.
Before her sentence was delivered, Holmes read a speech to the courtroom, saying, “I am devastated by my failings. I have felt deep pain for what people went through, because I failed them. I regret my failings with every cell of my body.” After giving birth to their second child, a daughter named Invicta, she reported to prison in May 2023.
In March 2026, Holmes’s prison sentence was reduced to 10 years and 3 months in federal prison; she’s scheduled to be released on Feb. 22, 2030. Holmes is incarcerated at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, but will be transferred to the Austin Transitional Center, a halfway house, in Del Valle, Texas, on Aug. 23, 2027.
According to Fielder, Holmes and Evans have not seen You Can See Everything, which opens in theaters on October 16. But she has watched parts of The Dropout, which is documented in You Can See Everything.
This story has been updated.