Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of the biotech startup Theranos, is now seeking a lifeline from the Trump administration.
The former CEO, who made headlines for one of the most notorious fraud cases in Silicon Valley history, has formally requested a reduction in her prison sentence, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney.
Her plea, filed sometime in 2025, is currently listed as pending on the department’s website.
Conviction and Sentence: The Fall of a Silicon Valley Star
Holmes’s legal troubles began after she was convicted in 2022 on four counts of felony fraud.
She raised hundreds of millions of dollars by misleading investors about Theranos’ blood-testing technology, which promised to run hundreds of tests using just a single drop of blood.
Investigative reporting by the Wall Street Journal, led by John Carreyrou, revealed that the company’s signature “finger-prick” machines were not actually capable of delivering the results Theranos claimed.
In criminal court, Holmes was found guilty of wire fraud totaling over $140 million and was sentenced to just over 11 years in prison.
Civil charges also followed, with the SEC accusing her of defrauding investors out of $700 million.
A Digital Pivot Toward Trump
Holmes’s request for commutation comes after a noticeable shift in her online persona.
After years of relative silence on social media, she returned to X (formerly Twitter) in August 2025, posting messages supportive of former President Trump and his political initiatives.
This pivot marked a dramatic departure from her earlier political activities.
In 2016, she had hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at Theranos’ Palo Alto headquarters, and prior to that, she often highlighted successful women like Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, and Melinda Gates on her profile.
Public Relations Strategy Under Scrutiny
Experts have been quick to interpret Holmes’s online behavior as a calculated move to curry favor with Trump.
Sam Singer, a Bay Area PR and crisis consultant, reviewed her posts and told The Mercury News that Holmes seems to be “openly seeking a pardon from President Trump,” adding that her strategy “plays right into the narrative about Elizabeth Holmes as a con woman.”
Recent posts have included tributes to Trump-aligned initiatives like “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) and interactions with political topics, ranging from Venezuela-related actions to commentary on high-profile figures like Elon Musk.
A Hail Mary for Freedom
Holmes is currently serving her sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, a minimum-security facility.
After losing her appeal in May, her options for early release are extremely limited.
She could theoretically succeed through a Supreme Court reversal, which experts consider unlikely, or secure clemency through a presidential commutation.
Her approach is not without precedent.
During his presidency, Trump granted clemency to dozens of white-collar criminals, including 34 individuals convicted of various types of fraud.
Holmes appears to be hoping that her digital overtures and alignment with Trump’s base might tip the scales in her favor.
What Lies Ahead
With her commutation request still pending, the outcome remains uncertain.
Elizabeth Holmes’s efforts to appeal to political power highlight both her persistence and the lengths to which she will go to try to regain her freedom.
For now, the story is far from over, leaving the public to watch and speculate on what could be the next chapter in one of Silicon Valley’s most infamous scandals.
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