(NewsNation) — A decade after she helped expose Theranos, whistleblower Erika Cheung says she still doesn't know whether Elizabeth Holmes has learned her lesson. “I don’t think that she can really be trusted,” Cheung told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo. “She plays a lot of revisionist history.” Cheung, a former Theranos employee, says Holmes has yet to show she is willing to "take ownership or accountability for the things that she's done." Cheung says she has heard Holmes' partner is starting an AI diagnostic firm in Texas. She calls it "really concerning." “Are Texans going to face the same issues that Arizonans did and Californians did?” she asked. Billy Evans, Holmes' partner and the father of her two kids, is CEO of Haemanthus, an Austin diagnostic startup.
NPR reported in May 2025, citing sources, that Holmes was advising Evans from prison. The company said in a post on X that Holmes has "zero involvement." For Cheung, it's tied to her biggest fear and worry that Holmes will “inflict more pain and more harm on more people because they didn’t actually learn that lesson.” Holmes was convicted in 2022 of defrauding investors over Theranos' blood-testing claims. Her sentence has been reduced to 10 years and 3 months, and she is scheduled to move to an Austin halfway house on Aug. 23, 2027, with release set for Feb. 22, 2030.
Cheung says that part doesn't concern her, since first-time offenders with good behavior often get early placement. Cheung stopped short of calling Holmes evil. “I’m not the type to pin people as good and evil,” she said. She added, “There should be opportunities for people to redeem themselves,” but based on how Holmes has acted so far, that outcome doesn't look likely.
Originally reported by The Hill.