Mr. Shkreli’s Loss Today, On Appeal… Is Ominous, For Ms. Holmes’ / Mr. Balwani’s Chances…

Both Ms. Holmes and Mr. Balwani have been debarred from federal government health care reimbursement contract businesses — for 90 years, each.

Obviously, this is essentially… a lifetime ban.

In no meaningful manner is this different than Martin Shkreli’s life time ban from pharma — on antitrust grounds (an appeal of which he just lost this morning).

While the Holmes/Balwani duo will lose on their overall felonies appeals (just as Martin did, in 2018)… they are still weeks away from appealing the life-time federal debarment.

But just as the Second Circuit in Manhattan ruled today, efforts to remediate dangerous and criminal health care frauds… ones that endangered human lives — are given… a very wide berth, on appeal.

Substantial deference is accorded to the agencies imposing the debarring orders (here HHS and CMS).

Protecting the public from additional harm greatly outweighs any speech or liberty to contract interest these two might assert, when finally out of prison a decade or so, from tonight.

Now you know.

ON W A R D.

Out.

Elizabeth Holmes Is Federally Debarred, From Getting Any Health Care Reimbursement Money, For Life.

Much like Martin Shkreli’s life long ban from the pharma and pharma-adjacent industries, Elizabeth Holmes (in federal prison in West Texas) learned today that she is barred — for a term of 90 years. That is a life-time ban.

It’s the same length Sunny Balwani saw as well, at OIG.

Quoth the HHS/OIG release announcing her debarment/ban:

…The statutory minimum for an exclusion based on convictions like Holmes’s is five years. When certain aggravating factors are present, a longer period of exclusion is justified. The length of Holmes’s exclusion is based on the application of several aggravating factors, including the length of time the acts were committed, incarceration, and the amount of restitution ordered to be paid.

Holmes was sentenced in May 2023 to 11 years in federal prison. Holmes was ordered to pay approximately $452,047,200 in restitution due to her offense resulting in a significant financial loss to entities and adverse financial impact to other individuals….

Now you know; and this is cross posted to the Holmes Felony Review blog as well.

Onward,