Theranos Founder, Elizabeth Holmes, begins 11 year prison term

Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of Theranos, has begun her 11 years of prison term. She has reported to the federal facility in Bryan, Texas that holds about 600 to 700 inmates.

Holmes could be seen escorted by a police official to the federal prison facility.

"We can confirm Elizabeth Holmes has arrived at the Federal Prison Camp Bryan... and is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons," the authority said in a brief statement

Elizabeth Holmes along with a former top Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani was convicted for defrauding investors. Balwani is now spending a 13 year jail term in California and was earlier ordered to pay $452m to victims. The duo were accused of duping some of the world's richest and prominent investors into backing Theranos.

Some of the investors include media baron Rupert Murdoch, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and pharmacy chain Walgreens. The board of the firm also consisted of former top US government officials Henry Kissinger, George Shultz and Jim Mattis.

However, things took a turn when The Wall Street Journal did an investigative report on the validity of the tests. Theranos was working on perfecting an easy-to-use test kit that could carry out a wide range of medical diagnostics with just a few drops of blood. The firm promised that the Edison test could detect conditions such as cancer and diabetes quickly without the hassle of needles. However, it was discovered that the technology didn't work at all.

The firm that once was valued at $9 billion, collapsed in 2018.