Elizabeth Holmes really doesn’t want to go to jail. In an 82-page sentencing memorandum filed last week (via Gizmodo), Holmes’ attorneys are trying to paint the former Theranos CEO in a more positive light in order to reduce their sentence.
Holmes, who claimed her company had the technology to run hundreds of tests based on just a few drops of blood, was found guilty of misleading investors in January. She was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and three counts of wire fraud, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years. Although she was not found guilty of defrauding patients, some claim her flawed tests gave inaccurate results, including one patient who claimed the test incorrectly told her she was suffering from her fourth miscarriage.
Holmes’ lawyers are asking for only 18 months of house arrest for the Theranos founder, followed by a supervised release and mandatory community service.
Holmes’ lawyers are keen to convince the judge that she was not a grown woman when Theranos was founded
The document is divided into sections that sound like something a high school student would write on their college application, such as “Deep Interest in Making the World a Better Place” and “Positive Impact on Others.” It begins with the hope that it will encourage the judge to say, “Ms. Holmes the Man” before dropping the gavel.
The document details various humanitarian efforts Holmes undertook as a child, such as her plans to help victims of the Kosovo War during her sophomore year of high school and her efforts to raise relief funds for an earthquake in Turkey. The file even quotes when she was interviewed in her high school newspaper, saying, “We have the potential to reform ourselves and avert the horrors of this world if we just learn and act.”
Even when describing their actions at Theranos, Holmes’ attorneys are reluctant to refer to them as full-grown adults. Instead, they describe her as a “teen with four quarters of college and some laboratory research experience under her belt, but no business or managerial experience.” When she was convicted at the age of 34, the file reminds us that she was “still a relative newcomer to the business world”.
Holmes’ apparent immaturity is supported by a total of 130 letters written by “people who actually know Ms. Holmes,” including a letter from her husband, Billy Evans, which has already made tabloid waves. Among other things, it reveals that Holmes is currently pregnant and that her husky Balto (whom Holmes reportedly told People was a wolf) was “carried away by a mountain lion” from her porch.
Not surprisingly, Evans portrays Holmes as the victim, saying she is “gullible, overly trusting and just plain naive” and will always “leave the last bits of her favorite chocolate for a houseguest.”