Elizabeth Holmes and ‘Real Housewives’ star Jen Shah are prison friends: report
Convicted Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has “bonded” and become “friends” with fellow inmate Jen Shah, a representative for the “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” alum, told People.
Holmes began serving her 11-year sentence for fraud in May at the federal prison in Bryan, Texas — where Shah had already been cooling her high heels for three months following her own fraud conviction.
“They’re friends. They’re both rehabilitating and have bonded over being on this journey of positive change,” the talent manager, Chris Giovanni, told the outlet.
“Their situations brought them together, and they have a good understanding of one another. They’re getting through it together.”
Shah, 49, has reportedly taken on a motherly role at the minimum-security, women’s-only prison towards Holmes, 39, who has two young kids.
“Jen’s given her a lot of advice. She’s even met Elizabeth’s baby and held her,” Giovanni told People, noting that the reality TV star has been “very loving” to Holmes and her three-month-old daughter, who Holmes shares with her husband, hotel heir Billy Evans.
The couple — who married in 2019 and lived in a $13,000-per-month California estate together — also have a one-year-old son.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website, families are permitted to visit inmates on the weekends and holidays, and children under 10 may sit on their parent’s lap.
Holmes also frequents the fitness classes Shah conducts, called “Sha-mazing Abs,” Giovanni told People.
“Jen gets all the ladies together and they rally behind her while she teaches them fitness moves, and Elizabeth has been there right along with them,” the flack said.
Giovanni did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Throughout the rest of the day, Shah has been tutoring other inmates looking to earn a GED, according to the news site — a far cry from her glammed-up days on “RHOSLC,” where she was known for her over-the-top personality and sharp tongue.
However, “Jen’s not anything like the show portrayed her to be. She’s so peaceful now,” Giovanni told People. “She’s still funny and has her one-liners, but she’s graduated from anger management classes and is much more grounded.”
Giovanni said Holmes and Shah have “changed a lot behind bars,” even noting that Shah is “reunion-ready” and looks “phenomenal.”
But at FPC Bryan, the days are less glamorous than Shah’s time on TV, when she bragged about spending $50,000 per month to afford her lavish lifestyle.
At the Texas prison, inmates are reportedly awoken at 6 a.m. each day and ordered to wear a prison-issued khaki uniform.
Inmates are required to work in food services or at factory jobs, which earns them between 12 cents and $1.15 per hour. Inmates must return to their dormitories for a head count at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Cells close for the night at 8 p.m.
The prison has used male guards to conduct “shower checks” and has faced a half-dozen sexual misconduct allegations in the past year, according to a former inmate and official records, The Post previously reported.
Holmes, now known as federal inmate 24965-111, was initially sentenced to 11 years and three months in the Texas prison for swindling doctors and patients to use her company’s blood-testing services while knowing that Theranos was incapable of producing accurate results.
She was convicted on four counts of wire fraud and of defrauding investors of more than $700 million with the made-up claims.
Her sentence has since been slashed two years.
According to Holmes’ inmate information on the Bureau of Prisons’ website, Holmes will now be released on Nov. 29, 2032 — nine years and nearly six months after she checked into FPC Bryan on May 30.
Shah, meanwhile — federal inmate 37357-509 — is due for a July 1, 2028, release after being sentenced for defrauding hundreds of victims — many of whom are working-class senior citizens — in a nationwide telemarketing scheme that came crashing down in March 2021.
Shah, along with her longtime assistant Stuart Smith, duped investors — most of them over 55 — to invest in dubious online projects and sold bogus business services from 2012 until just last year.
Following a two-year court saga, Shah surrendered to FPC Bryan in February — three months before an emotional Holmes turned up to begin her sentence.
Shah will be on a five-year supervised release after she’s sprung.
She has also been ordered to pay more than $9 million in restitution and $6,500,000 in forfeiture representing “proceeds traceable to the commission of said offense.”
