Category: Prison

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Crime Elizabeth Holmes Prison

Theranos scammer Elizabeth Holmes calls federal prison ‘pure pain’ and ‘torture’

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People Magazine has a cover interview with convicted felon Elizabeth Holmes, who perpetrated one of the biggest frauds in history through her blood testing company, Theranos. Holmes is currently in a Texas federal prison, where she has served two years out of a now nine year sentence. In People, Holmes comes across as a defensive self-pitying narcissist who believes she can still revolutionize healthcare while single-handedly reforming the American criminal justice system. It’s very on-brand for her, as is a major celebrity publication giving a platform to a white woman who stole over $500 million and continues to lie about it. People has some choice quotes from Holmes along with a look at her average days in prison, which include exercising, working with inmates on their resumes and speaking to her family twice a day. Holmes claims that getting pregnant twice while awaiting trial for fraud was just her way of starting a family when she could, and that she never expected to serve time. I’m going to quote from a couple of different stories on People here.

On how hard it is to only see her children every weekend


Her young children — son William, 3, and daughter Invicta, 2 — are being raised nearby by their father, Holmes’s partner Billy Evans, 33, but visit their mother at the dormitory-style correctional facility every weekend.

“It’s been pure pain since I’ve been here,” says Holmes, who opens up about her life behind bars and being separated from her family in this week’s PEOPLE cover story. “It’s been torture.”

Why she had kids while awaiting trial


Although the start of her prison sentence was postponed, Holmes says she still wasn’t mentally prepared to serve time as a mother with two babies. She gave birth to her first child, William, just weeks before her fraud trial began. Evans, whom she met at a rooftop charity event in Oct. 2017 during the Theranos scandal, presented a silver snake ring bought at a Taylor Swift Reputation Tour concert when he proposed to her a year later.

Together they decided to start a family despite the legal jeopardy that Holmes was soon to face. “I asked him 20 times if he wanted to spend his life with me,” she recalls. “There were a million reasons why not.” (Although Evans is an heir to the Evans Hotel Group, his family hasn’t contributed to Holmes’s legal defense. )

A year later Holmes was pregnant again with daughter Invicta (Latin for “invincible”), which delayed her prison start by a month. “I always wanted to be a mother,” she explains. “I truly did not think I would ever be convicted or found guilty.”

She’s going to reform the criminal justice system


Scheduled for release on April 3, 2032, Holmes says she hopes to travel with her family and to fight for reform of criminal justice system. She recently drafted an American Freedom Act bill — a seven-page handwritten document— to bolster the presumption of innocence and change criminal procedure. “This will be my life’s work,” says Holmes, adding that she is speaking out now as part of her mission to advocate on behalf of incarcerated persons and those ripped away from their children.

She doesn’t think she did anything wrong


While she defiantly maintains her innocence, Holmes admits, “I replayed mistakes I made a million times in my mind, burning them into my body.” But when asked to specify the “mistakes” she made, Holmes declines to answer, saying only, “Theranos failed. I take responsibility for that failure. Failure is not fraud…”

And, despite her global reputation as a biotech con artist who put lives at risk, she says she’s continuing to write patents for new inventions and plans to resume her career in healthcare technology after her release. “There is not a day I have not continued to work on my research and inventions,” she says. “I remain completely committed to my dream of making affordable healthcare solutions available to everyone.”

[From two stories on People]

The Today Show has a brief interview with the People journalist who met with Holmes, Danielle Bacher. Bacher says that Holmes speaks in a normal voice now and that she won’t admit she’s done anything wrong. It sound like she’s painting herself as a victim for facing even this small sliver of a consequence. Holmes gets to see her kids and husband every weekend, she speaks to her family twice a day, she gets therapy once a week and is doing work she describes as meaningful. She’s still getting positive press and a platform for her lies too. It’s jaw-droppingly delusional and maddening, but I guess that’s just this woman’s whole personality. The minute Holmes gets out of prison in six years she’s going to start grifting again. She’ll probably be successful since she’s an expert at scamming old white Republican men.

“I refused to plead guilty to crimes I did not commit,” Holmes told People Magazine. “Theranos failed. But failure is not fraud.” https://t.co/mBMOBbqoiY

— Inc. (@Inc) February 13, 2025

I spent time in federal prison in Texas to interview Elizabeth Holmes. My exclusive cover story is on newsstands today! https://t.co/NRhrskpvtj via @people

— Danielle Bacher (@DBacherwrites) February 12, 2025

Categories
Alec Baldwin Lawsuits Prison

Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers file a motion to dismiss her conviction

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Early last year, Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was charged with involuntary manslaughter for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins back in October 2021. Hannah’s trial began in late February of this year, she was convicted two weeks later, and in May, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer gave Hannah the maximum possible sentence of 18 months in prison, where she is now. Then last week happened. Alec Baldwin’s trial for the same charge began before the same judge last Tuesday, and by Friday the entire case was dismissed because the prosecution (inexplicably) failed to disclose evidence to the defense. Anyone who’s seen My Cousin Vinny knows, “it’s called disclosure you d–khead!” Now, as expected, Hannah’s lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss her conviction:

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the Rust armorer who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the October 2021 on-set fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, is seeking to dismiss her conviction or have a new trial after Alec Baldwin’s criminal case was dismissed mid-trial.

In court documents filed in New Mexico on Tuesday, July 16, and obtained by PEOPLE, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys Jason Bowles and Monica L. Barreras sent a motion to the court asking for the armorer to either receive a new trial or have her conviction dismissed in the wake of “an egregious discovery violation” made by New Mexico’s special prosecutors.

Baldwin’s case was dismissed in a surprise twist on Friday, July 12 after the actor’s attorneys argued the prosecution buried evidence related to the case without the defense’s knowledge. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who also presided over Gutierrez-Reed’s criminal trial, dismissed Baldwin’s case with prejudice, meaning Baldwin, 66, cannot be charged with involuntary manslaughter again.

Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys argued in this new motion that prosecutors “withheld bombshell exculpatory evidence that it had a constitutional obligation to disclose and that would have resulted in a fundamentally different trial,” for the armorer, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death on March 6.

Gutierrez-Reed was in charge of prop weapons on the Western movie Rust, which Baldwin, 66, starred in and co-produced, when a gun Baldwin was holding discharged and killed Hutchins, 42, on Oct. 21, 2021, in New Mexico. On April 15, Gutierrez-Reed received the maximum sentence of 18 months of incarceration at a New Mexico women’s correctional facility. She was separately cleared on a separate charge of tampering with evidence during that trial.

Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys are asking the court to outright dismiss her conviction or grant her a new trial in light of misconduct discovered during Baldwin’s trial, per court documents obtained by PEOPLE. They also asked that the court alternatively release Gutierrez-Reed pending an appeal and that special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey be removed from the case.

Despite Gutierrez-Reed’s new motion, Emily D. Baker, a legal expert and former Los Angeles district attorney, tells PEOPLE the movie’s armorer “is in a much different position” to have her case dismissed or receive a new trial.

“With the swiftness of that conviction and the evidence, including Hannah’s own statements to police that she loaded the weapon, I don’t know if any of this coming forward would change the jury result that she didn’t do her job as the armorer,” Baker says. “The position of Baldwin was much stronger. Hannah’s position to get released and to get this overturned is not as good as Baldwin’s. It’s a much weaker argument for her.”

[From People]

So her defense lawyers are asking for Hannah’s conviction to be dismissed or at least retried, and they want the prosecutor off the case, oh and Hannah should be sprung from prison in the interim. Have I got all that right? Defense attorneys are gonna defend, I get that, and at this point the prosecution should also want a new lead attorney based on how badly Kari Morrissey bungled the other case. But Hannah’s attitude and behavior have been so off-putting that I hate the idea she could finagle her way out, here. Instead of taking real responsibility, she’s complained about how her own life has been affected. Other lives have been affected, too, like the lives of Halyna Hutchins, her family and friends.

Earlier this week I was more convinced that her conviction would be overturned, on the same Brady violation issue as Alec Baldwin. But between this reporting, and the thorough timelines y’all laid out in the comments, I’m more encouraged now that her conviction will stand. Back when the ruling came down in March, jurors were pretty clear that Hannah’s inconsistent safety checks on set were a big factor in their decision. If that’s so, then Judge Sommer can say that the withheld evidence from Alec’s trial would likely not have changed the outcome of Hannah’s case.

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Alec Baldwin Lawsuits Prison

Will Rust armorer Gutierrez-Reed overturn her conviction after Baldwin’s case dismissal?

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As we’ve been covering, Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial for the death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins went from jury selection on Tuesday July 9, to dismissal with prejudice — meaning Alec can never be recharged — by Friday July 12. Alec’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case after they learned of evidence the prosecution had failed to disclose, which is a major Brady violation. It was a pretty stunning turn of events, and I’m still gobsmacked that the prosecutors made such a blunder. And the ripples may still be coming: Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of the same charge earlier this year and sentenced to 18 months in prison, where she is now. She’s already appealed the conviction, but legal experts say she could have her conviction overturned on the same grounds as Alec:

‘Lost by the prosecution’: “I fully expect Hannah Gutierrez Reed to make the same argument for her conviction to be overturned,” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told CNN. “I think this case wasn’t won by Alec Baldwin as much as it was lost by the prosecution. … This evidence is more exculpatory and exonerates Gutierrez Reed even more than Baldwin.”

More about the evidence that was withheld: A crime scene technician testified that a man had delivered a box of ammunition to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office after Gutierrez Reed’s conviction. Troy Teske, a retired cop and friend of the armorer’s father, told investigators he believed the ammunition could be associated with the “Rust” case, according to testimony by crime scene tech Marissa Poppell. But, Poppell told the jury, the bullets were catalogued separately from Baldwin’s case and were not included in the “Rust” case inventory or tested to see if they matched the lethal round.

The Brady rule: Baldwin’s defense team argued prosecutors buried this evidence. His attorneys claimed in a motion the state “unilaterally withheld” evidence that could be favorable at his trial — a violation of the Brady rule, named after the 1963 Brady v. Maryland case. The rule requires prosecutors “to disclose material, exculpatory information in the government’s possession to the defense,” according to Cornell Law School.

Hannah’s attorney will file for a dismissal: Jason Bowles, Gutierrez Reed’s attorney, told CNN Friday that he will seek freedom for his client. “The judge found intentional misconduct and we also have had the same failures in Hannah’s case by the state. We will be moving for dismissal of Hannah’s case,” Bowles said.

Relevancy: [Judge Mary Marlowe] Sommer was also the judge in the armorer’s trial. Her ruling regarding the failure to disclose the ammunition should carry significant weight in the Gutierrez Reed case, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said. “I think what you’re going to see is a motion from her attorney giving the indication that when she was on trial, she did not have this information,” Jackson said. “Clearly, it was in the prosecution’s control. Clearly, it was brought to the prosecutor’s attention. And prosecutors don’t get to make a unilateral decision as to whether something’s relevant or important in the case. It’s shared and then assessed and analyzed.”

‘A tragedy to the victims’: Rahmani, referring to Gutierrez Reed, said: “I fully expect either the trial court or the appellate court to overturn that conviction. It won’t just be Alec Baldwin who’s a free man. Hannah Gutierrez Reed will go free as well. And it’s really a tragedy to the victims in this case.”

[From CNN]

Well, sh-t. Color me stupid, but when the news broke about Alec’s dismissal, it didn’t even occur to me that it could benefit already-convicted Hannah. It’s curious that the judge is the same for both cases. Judge Sommer can’t really maintain one opinion/ruling for Alec and a different one for Hannah, right? But since Judge Sommer did not hold back at all in her scolding of Hannah at the sentencing hearing, my prediction is that she will overturn the conviction… after a preamble reiterating how reckless Hannah was in her job as armorer. And we don’t have nearly enough info yet, but there’s something fishy about the detail that the man who first brought the withheld evidence to the Sheriff’s Office is a friend of Hannah’s father.

The final expert quoted got it right, though: this is all a terrible miscarriage of justice for Halyna Hutchins, and my thoughts are with her husband, her son, her sister, and her parents.

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Court Appearances Megan Thee Stallion Prison Tory Lanez

Tory Lanez sentenced to ten years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

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Late last year, just before Christmas, Tory Lanez was convicted of three felonies from the July 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion. Megan, Tory and several friends had been partying in LA when Tory shot Megan and told her “dance, bitch.” Following the shooting, Tory then engaged in one of the most toxic and public gaslighting campaigns I’ve ever seen, helped along by some of the most disgusting people within the music industry. Megan has really been through it, and Tory’s conviction was a welcome relief. Now Tory has been sentenced to ten years in prison:

Canadian rapper Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of shooting hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion in the foot after the pair left a Los Angeles party in 2020. The hearing began Monday and wrapped up Tuesday, ending a high-profile case in which Megan, 28, was subjected to what prosecutors called “repeated and grotesque attacks.” It cast a spotlight on the scrutiny Black women face when they report abuse.

A jury convicted Lanez, 31, who pleaded not guilty, of three felony charges in December: assault with a semi-automatic firearm, carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit, Lanez addressed the court before the judge handed down his sentence. He apologized for his actions and said he took full responsibility for the 2020 shooting.

“If I could change it, I would, but I can’t,” he said. “Everything I did that night, I take full responsibility,” he added. “I truly am just trying to be a better person.” Lanez looked surprised but remained quiet after the sentence was announced. The mother of his son burst into tears as she was led out of the courtroom.

Matthew Barhoma, a member of Lanez’s legal team, said appeals for both the sentence and the conviction are planned. The team will also file for bail when it appeals the sentence.

In handing down his sentence, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford said it was “difficult to reconcile” the doting father and committed philanthropist many described with the person who fired a gun five times at Megan.

“Sometimes good people do bad things,” Herriford said. “Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case.”

Deputy District Attorney Alex Bott said Lanez called Megan a liar, intimidated her and harassed her. “Not only did the defendant do the heinous act of shooting her; he then subjected her to 2 ½ years of hell,” Bott said after the sentencing.

[From NBC News]

“Sometimes good people do bad things” – are you f–king joking? Tory not only SHOT a woman, he subjected her to years of harassment and a toxic disinformation campaign online and in real life. He paid off her friends to turn on her, he bad-mouthed Megan in the industry and he never, ever took “full responsibility” for any of it. Ten years is too f–king light. Megan said as much in her victim-impact statement to the court – she didn’t appear in court, but she sent her statement, which reads in part:

“I struggle with being present. After everything that occurred I cannot bring myself back to being in the same room with Tory. I’ve been tormented and terrorized. He paid bloggers to disseminate false information, he treated my trauma like a joke when I could’ve been dead. He blamed the system, he blamed the press, and as of late he is using his childhood trauma to justify his actions. Slowly but surely, I’m healing. But I’ll never be the same. His crime warrants the full weight of the law.”

[Via People]

Yes. All of what Megan said. I can’t believe the judge said “Sometimes good people do bad things.” In what f–king world is Tory Lanez a good person?

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

Categories
Elizabeth Holmes Prison

Theranos scammer Elizabeth Holmes’ prison sentence reduced by 2 years

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In January 2022 Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on 4 counts of defrauding investors in Theranos, her biotech startup that was only lacking in the bio and tech factors. It wasn’t until November of last year that Holmes had her sentencing–11 years and 3 months–but she didn’t have to report to prison until after she had given birth to her second child (with hotel heir Billy Evans). Invicta Evans arrived at the beginning of this year, and Holmes lost a bid to remain home on bail until the appeals process played out (a bid that wasn’t helped by her buying a one-way ticket to Mexico). So finally, on May 30 Holmes turned herself in at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Southern Texas. That was exactly 6 weeks ago, and yesterday it emerged that her sentence has already been reduced by 2 years, per online records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons:

Convicted ex-Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is now scheduled for early release, online records show.

In November 2022, the California former biotechnology entrepreneur was sentenced to 11 years and three months for defrauding investors in the failed Silicon Valley startup that sought to revolutionize blood testing.

On Tuesday, Federal Bureau of Prisons records showed Holmes sentence was reduced to nine years with a scheduled release date of Dec. 23, 2032–meaning she will be released two years early.

Holmes, 39, reported to a minimum-security, federal women’s prison camp located in Bryan, Texas, on May 30.

A spokesperson for the federal agency confirmed the reduction to USA TODAY on Tuesday but said they could not provide additional details about Holmes’ slated early release citing “privacy, safety, and security reasons.”

According to a statement from the federal agency, some inmates are eligible for release early via court orders such as a compassionate release due to old age and medical conditions or clemency.

Inmates can also have their sentences reduced for good conduct, including completing job assignments and completing substance abuse program courses, the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement.

Gained time can also be revoked over disciplinary concerns or other infractions, the agency said.

[From USA Today]

How on earth did she finagle this? What possible “good conduct” could she have performed in just 6 weeks that merited already shaving off 2 years? I understand the Bureau citing security concerns for why they can’t comment further, at least right now. But I can’t imagine that will stand for long, not with the high profile of her case. The only other Holmes news I’m aware of since she reported to prison was about a month ago her lawyers argued that she couldn’t afford the other part of her sentence–to pay $250 a month to the victims she scammed. It’s a tasteless argument from someone whose partner is the heir to a 70-year-old, multiple property hotel business in Southern California, and besides I don’t see how that could relate to the reduced time. But what do I know? All I can do is report (and judge and cast aspersions on) what I see, and between this and NXIVM’s Allison Mack being released a year early from her sentence just last week, I think we can all see clearly that justice is not (color) blind in this country.

Lastly, for my fellow nerds who remember by heart their fourth grade multiplication tables: 6 weeks is 42 days. Elizabeth Holmes got her sentence reduced by 2 years after serving in prison for less time than Liz Truss was Prime Minister of the UK.

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Allison Mack Cults Keith Raniere NXIVM Prison

NXIVM co-conspirator Allison Mack is already out of prison after only serving two years

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In July, 2021 Allison Mack was sentenced to three years in federal prison for her leadership position in the NXIVM cult, which included acting as lead recruiter for the cult’s exclusive master-slave sorority, D.O.S. Thanks to brave ex-members speaking on the record, documentaries like HBO’s The Vow and Starz’s Seduced exposed D.O.S. as a group of women who were groomed to be sexually abused by NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. These women were coerced into filming future-blackmail material on themselves which was handed over as collateral, and they were branded. Mack pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors by handing over evidence against Raniere and displaying “remorse” in court, which was why she got off with the shamefully low sentence of three years. On Monday she was released after only serving two of the three years:

The television actor Allison Mack, who pleaded guilty for her role in a sex-trafficking case tied to the cult-like group NXIVM, has been released from a California prison, according to a government website.

Mack, best known for her role as a young Superman’s close friend on “Smallville,” was sentenced to three years behind bars in 2021 after pleading guilty two years earlier to charges that she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for NXIVM leader Keith Raniere.

Online records maintained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Mack, 40, was released Monday from a federal prison in Dublin, California, near San Francisco. Her release was first reported by the Albany Times-Union.

Mack avoided a longer prison term by cooperating with federal authorities in their case against Raniere, who was ultimately sentenced to 120 years in prison after being convicted on sex-trafficking charges.

Mack helped prosecutors mount evidence showing how Raniere created a secret society that included brainwashed women who were branded with his initials and forced to have sex with him.

In addition to Mack, members of the group included an heiress to the Seagram’s liquor fortune, Clare Bronfman; and a daughter of TV star Catherine Oxenberg of “Dynasty” fame.

Mack would later repudiate Raniere and express “remorse and guilt” before her sentencing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

[From HuffPost]

This is despicable. Yes, Keith Raniere got a hefty sentence to serve 120 years in federal prison (the rest of his life) and to pay $3.46 million in restitution (arguably a low figure). But the NXIVM women who held prominent positions have walked away with paltry sentences–just under seven years for Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman who funded the cult, and 3.5 years for co-founder Nancy Salzman–and now Allison Mack has been released a whole year early. Mack was running D.O.S. right up there with Raniere. Their initials are branded onto women’s bodies–including one who was 15 at the time. All Mack served was two years. I’m angry, are you?

One last note: I find it beyond distasteful that media like HuffPost above, and even The New York Times, are still referring to NXIVM as a “cult-like” group. NXIVM is a cult, full-stop. Labeling it as anything less is a slap in the face to the victims.

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Crime Elizabeth Holmes Prison

Elizabeth Holmes would get dinner delivered at 8pm so people worked late

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On May 30, Elizabeth Holmes reported to prison to start serving her 11 year sentence. Even though it’s a minimum-security prison, she’ll be subjected to constant surveillance and monitoring. Which is the kind of treatment she gave her employees, as it turns out. Business Insider [via Yahoo] used this opportunity to report some details about Theranos office culture from journalist John Carrreyrou’s book Bad Blood. Carreyrou’s the one whose reporting for the Wall Street Journal blew the story wide open, and Bad Blood was published back in 2018. I’m sure it surprises no one that Elizabeth used many tactics to keep her employees working late, including ordering dinners every night that arrived after 8PM, so that employees couldn’t leave until 10 PM.

Being monitored constantly is something Elizabeth Holmes will have to get used to after finally beginning her 11-year sentence on May 30.

According to John Carreyrou’s book “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup,” the Theranos founder was obsessed with monitoring how many hours her employees were putting in, and would find ways to keep them working late.

One of these approaches involved getting dinner delivered to the Theranos office every night. However, Holmes timed the delivery between 8 p.m. and 8.30 p.m., meaning staff often weren’t leaving work until 10 p.m., according to the book.

Ordering communal dinners was reportedly one of several unusual tactics Holmes, who tried to model herself on Steve Jobs, would use to both inspire and intimidate Theranos employees.

According to the book, Holmes’ assistants would track the arrival and departure time of workers each day, while IT staff would monitor the software being on employees’ computers. She also had her team add employees on Facebook and tell Holmes what they were posting, Carreyrou wrote.

The surveillance state Holmes appeared to run at Theranos may not be too far removed from her new life at a federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

According to The Journal and an inmate handbook for the Bryan camp, she will be woken at 6 a.m. daily, and face five headcounts a day.

[From Business Insider via Yahoo]

Ah, how the turn tables. (I know that’s not the expression, but it is my favorite malapropism.) The controlling boss is now subject to even more intense surveillance than what her employees experienced. I wish I could say that Holmes’s downfall changed Silicon Valley for the better. The failures of businesses like Theranos and WeWork have definitely made investors more cautious. Then the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank changed the mood even more. I lived in the Bay Area for seven years, I saw how billions of dollars just flying around changed the whole region. It all happened so quickly that it felt surreal to be there. Now San Francisco–which used to be a vibrant, fun place–is a hollowed-out shell of itself, plagued with homelessness and drug addiction. Meanwhile, the ones who made good sit at rooftop lounges drinking $21 rosemary Palomas. It’s dystopian. But the company culture issues at Bay Area startups probably still remain. The tactics of control the article describes Elizabeth using–ordering dinners to get people to stay longer, tracking how long people are logged in, following them on social media–none of that seems that abnormal to me? I guess I’ve come to expect that level of surveillance from an employer, at least in white-collar office jobs. I’m a young-ish millennial so maybe that’s why. I’d be curious to know if any of you have experienced that kind of surveillance at a startup.

Something that does make me sad is that female founders still get a really tiny amount of venture capital funding–about two percent of VC money goes to women-owned startups as of March 2023. If they do get funding, they still have to work harder to be taken seriously or to get more money raised down the line. I think Elizabeth Holmes has made it harder for other female founders to get funding because she was such a fraud and a trickster, and we all know how primed people are to believe the worst about women. I don’t have any stats to back that up, it’s just my hunch. And it’s also even more difficult for women of color to get funding. Black-owned businesses account for two percent of all VC funding, and Black women founders get less than one percent. Anyway, I wonder what will become of Elizabeth’s hair while she’s inside. Will it return to the straw-like staticky mess of her glory days?

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