(NewsNation) — Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving an 11-year sentence for defrauding investors, may be getting an image makeover with help from the MAHA movement.
Influencer Jessica Reed Kraus, a former mommyblogger in the orbit of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., recently wrote a sympathetic Substack post that characterizes Holmes as an innovator who sought to put health care decisions in the hands of individuals rather than the medical industry. Kraus notes Holmes, a 41-year-old mother of two, launched a social media presence in August that offers a surprisingly cheery window into her life at a minimum-security prison in Texas.
“She offers entrepreneurial advice and reflections on health, faith, and balance, and she praises cultural figures such as Elon Musk, RFK Jr., and Charlie Kirk while following a wildly eclectic mix that includes J.K. Rowling, Rick Rubin, Tucker Carlson, Kai Trump, and President Trump, whom she credits for policy reforms that have positively impacted her and others in prison,” the writer said.
Kraus said her peers in the Make America Healthy Again movement “joked that if Holmes emerged today, she would be counted among the innovators MAHA endorses.”
Federal prosecutors had a sharply different take, saying the onetime darling of Silicon Valley misled Theranos investors about her company’s blood-testing technology, which never worked. The now-defunct Theranos was accused of harassing and threatening whistleblowers in the lead-up to Holmes’ downfall.
Politico suggests the burgeoning bond between Holmes and MAHA may have an endgame, at least from Holmes’ perspective, given President Trump’s growing list of pardons for white collar criminals.
Kraus’s Oct. 31 post does not mention clemency, although the author says bluntly, “Elizabeth Holmes should be trick-or-treating with her kids tonight.”