Almost everyone has heard the name Elizabeth Holmes before, largely due to her medical technology company Theranos (originally Real Time Cures), which she founded after dropping out of Stanford University in 2003. Her goal was to revolutionize the way that blood testing is conducted, and her vision sold insanely well. Holmes’ company shut down in 2018 after coming under heavy scrutiny from the public and the US government regarding the functionality of Theranos blood testing machines like the Edison, which was rolled out into various Walgreens locations across the US.
Jen Shah, on the other hand, was an actress on Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” who was arrested and sentenced to prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud with telemarketing. Shah was accused of running a telemarketing scam operation that intended to scam elderly citizens out of their money and was found guilty and sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
These two, who were both insanely popular and rich, had similar stories in terms of the way that they both got into prison – both were involved in some sort of fraud. But what we didn’t expect was for them to forge a friendship while in prison. People Magazine reported back in September that Shah has taken a “motherly role” towards Holmes while in prison. Shah has also been busy in prison besides befriending Holmes; she has also worked with other inmates to help them get their GEDs, teaches a workout class called “Shahmazing Abs,” and graduated from anger-management classes. They are both currently incarcerated at the same facility in Bryan, Texas.
But let’s get back to Elizabeth Holmes and the sheer magnitude of fraud she committed while she was in charge of Theranos. Holmes’ mission with Theranos was to create a blood testing machine & process that only required one or two drops of blood, taken from the fingertip, that was able to run dozens of tests with only those small drops of blood taken from the finger. When news of Holmes and her machines such as the “Mini-Lab” and the “Edison” broke, the public – and the investors – were sold on the concept she was pitching.
With immense support from the public and investors, she was able to raise roughly $724 million for Theranos between its creation and dissolution. She was also able to achieve a personal net worth of $4.5 billion. Theranos was valued at about $10 billion and, at the time, Forbes had celebrated her accomplishments by naming her the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire in 2014.
After the immense backlash relating to the accuracy of Theranos results, all of the Wellness Centers in Walgreens locations were shut down as well as all other Theranos clinics in 2016. CMS also issued a 2-year ban against Holmes, which restricted her from owning or operating a medical facility as the government investigated her for fraud. The company finally ceased operations and dissolved in 2018, two whole years after the company became virtually worthless.
Even if their friendship seems to be picture perfect, things aren’t truly perfect for Shah and Holmes; they still have 4.5 years and nearly 9 years remaining in their respective prison sentences.
