Elizabeth Anne Holmes was born in Washington, D.C., to Noel Holmes, a former Capitol Hill staffer, and Christian Holmes, a vice president at Enron before its collapse.

At the age of 19, Holmes dropped out of Stanford University to start Theranos, initially named Real-Time Cures, with the goal of revolutionizing blood testing by using only small amounts of blood. Despite skepticism from medical professors, she managed to secure backing from her advisor and dean at the School of Engineering, Channing Robertson.

Theranos reached a valuation of $9 billion, with Holmes being named the youngest and wealthiest self-made female billionaire in the United States by Forbes. However, a series of journalistic and regulatory investigations revealed doubts about the company's claims, leading to a rapid decline in its valuation and Holmes's reputation.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Theranos, Holmes, and former COO Ramesh Balwani with raising $700 million from investors through a fraud involving false or exaggerated claims about the accuracy of the company's blood-testing technology. Holmes settled the charges by paying a $500,000 fine, returning 18.9 million shares to the company, relinquishing her voting control of Theranos, and accepting a ten-year ban from serving as an officer or director of a public company.

Holmes was found guilty of criminal fraud on four counts: three counts of wire fraud and one of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was acquitted on four counts of defrauding patients, and the jury returned a 'no verdict' on three counts of wire fraud against investors.

Holmes was sentenced to 11.25 years (135 months) in prison, along with a fine of $400 and a three-year supervised release after serving her prison term. She was also ordered to pay $452 million in restitution to the victims of the fraud, shared with Balwani.

Holmes reported to Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, to begin her 11-year prison sentence. Her requests to delay incarceration were denied, and she was allowed a short postponement to make final arrangements, including child care for her two young children.