Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes walks outside the courtroom where she’s standing trial for fraud, on May 6, 2021.
CNBC
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, whose pregnancy delayed the start of her upcoming fraud trial, has given birth to a baby.
Records filed with the San Mateo County Recorder office, obtained by CNBC on Thursday, reveal Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, had a baby on July 10 at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, California.
One of Holmes’ attorneys, Amy Saharia, declined to comment on the news.
The trial was originally scheduled to begin in July, but was pushed back to August 31 due to her pregnancy. Holmes faces nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors allege Holmes deceived investors, patients and doctors about her company’s blood testing technology. She has pleaded not guilty.
The news of Holmes’ pregnancy raised questions about how that would affect her trial.
“Being a new mother can only help get her sympathy from jurors,” NBC news Legal Analyst Danny Cevallos, said. “If convicted, even if her sentencing guidelines call for incarceration, her attorneys will place her motherhood front and central before the judge.”
In an interview with CNBC last month, John Carreyrou, the former Wall Street Journal reporter who broke the Theranos scandal, said he spoke to people tied to the case and some “think that she was timing her pregnancy in order to be showing during the trial to get the jury sympathies.”
“If Elizabeth is convicted and the case goes to the judge for sentencing, if he sends her to prison for a long time he’d be depriving the child of his or her mother for many years,” Carreyrou said. “And that’s a heavy decision to make.”
This isn’t the only baby news for the Holmes family. Her brother Christian, who also worked at Theranos, and his wife are expecting a child in September, according to the couple’s online registry.
