She’s always hinted at a comeback. 

Or, more appropriately, a “fresh” start. 

Even as her mythical business empire was crumbling around her and well before she became an entrepreneurial exile, Elizabeth Holmes promised to return someday to the industry she betrayed.

Around the same time U.S. prosecutors indicted her and a former business partner on wire fraud and conspiracy charges (June 2018), Holmes was reportedly courting investors for another biomedical business idea.

Even after becoming a convicted felon, Holmes refused to abandon her dream. Breaking a seven-year (self-imposed?) public silence in 2023, Holmes shared with The New York Times her perpetual yearning to change healthcare and continued work on new inventions. “I still dream about being able to contribute in that space,” Holmes told the Times. “I still feel the same calling to it as I always did and I still think the need is there.”

In that Times interview, Holmes vowed to continue her work on healthcare innovations while incarcerated. And sure enough, she’s kept that promise (a first for Holmes), telling People magazine in February that she continues to write patents for new inventions and plans to resume her healthcare career upon her release from prison in seven (or so) years.

“There is not a day I have not continued to work on my research and inventions,” she informed People. “I remain completely committed to my dream of making affordable healthcare solutions available to everyone.”

Holmes may indeed be committed to her dream, but she’s apparently adjusting the timeline for fulfilling it. If rumors are true, the former Steve Jobs wannabe-turned rape counselor/pseudo-social worker is re-entering the business world (albeit surreptitiously) through a startup founded by her husband, hotel heir Billy Evans.

Multiple media outlets have reported that Evans has been raising millions of dollars for an AI startup that aims to develop a diagnostic testing device based on biological material samples. The experimental tool purportedly would test small samples of bodily fluids like blood, sweat, and urine to identify potential diseases.

Sound a bit familiar? 

Perhaps a little too familiar: The premise of Evans’ business venture sounds awfully similar to his wife’s corporate sham, Theranos, which claimed to accurately diagnose a plethora of diseases from a single blood drop. 

The companies’ naming conventions are comparable, too—Evans’ startup, Haemanthus, takes its moniker from the combination of the Greek words for blood (haima) and flower (anthos), not unlike the origin of Theranos, a blend of the words “therapy” and “diagnosis”.

Probably just a coincidence.

If so, it’s a very suspect coincidence. 

Haemanthus, of course, denies any connection to, or involvement from Holmes. Anticipating its automatic association with the convicted felon, the Austin, Texas-based company took to X on May 11 to dispel any speculation about its inspirations.

“We’re Haemanthus. Yes, our CEO, Billy Evans, is Elizabeth Holmes’ partner. Skepticism is rational. We must clear a higher bar. When @nytimes contacted us, we invited them: see our lab, tech, and team. They declined. The headline was already written. Our reality inconvenient,” the post read. “This is not Theranos 2.0. Theranos attempted to miniaturize existing tests. Our approach is fundamentally different. We use light to read the complete molecular story in biological fluids, seeing patterns current tests can’t detect. Not an improvement. A different paradigm.”

And different leadership. Haemanthus says its co-founders have decades of experience in photonics, medicine, and artificial intelligence, and its technical team scaled Luminar Technologies’ laser systems to production.

That kind of experience definitely leaves Holmes out.

For the record, though, Haemanthus directly addressed the speculation that Holmes might be running the show behind bars.  “Setting the record straight. Elizabeth Holmes has zero involvement in Haemanthus. We’ve learned from her company’s mistakes, but she has no role, now or future. NYT & @NPR implied otherwise. We’ve stayed quiet to build real tech, not conceal. Demonstrating, not promising.”

But doubts remain. Citing anonymous sources, NPR reports that Holmes has been providing advice to Evans on the startup, though it acknowledges the precise nature of her supporting role remains unclear. 

Among the most skeptical of Holmes’ intentions (and Evans’ startup inspiration) is Tyler Shultz, a scientist, founder, and whistleblower best known for exposing fraud at Theranos. In an opinion piece he wrote for STAT, Shultz alleges that Haemanthus is merely another stepping stone in Holmes’ pursuit of fame.

“Anyone who thought this story was over doesn’t know Elizabeth and her ability to craft a narrative. And if she’s credited with launching a company from a prison cell? That’s more legendary than the Hewlett-Packard garage or Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room. I suspect that Haemanthus’ purpose is not to build a product that will improve the lives of people. Nor is it to make VC returns. The purpose is to build something that works, so that she can point to it and say, ‘See, I would have figured it out. Theranos was never a fraud.’”

And Holmes would truly believe that.

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