At the recent New York Film Festival screening of the A24 documentary “You Can See Everything,” supporters of Elizabeth Holmes made their presence known, standing firmly by the convicted Theranos founder who has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for fraud. Among them was Ryan Elhosseiny, who leads a group called Just Blood and claims to have proven Holmes’s innocence by fixing her original blood-testing technology.
Protest at the Film Festival
Elhosseiny and his supporters, part of a “Free Elizabeth Holmes” campaign, distributed flyers and Just Blood t-shirts to attendees outside the festival. “I rebuilt Theranos technology from the ground up using trial exhibits and the patents,” he told Variety. “Turns out, everything that Elizabeth Holmes said is true. This is one of the most incredible technologies I’ve ever seen. This is airtight. Elizabeth Holmes is innocent and needs to be free.”
The Promise and Setbacks of Theranos
Holmes notoriously claimed that her company, Theranos, could perform hundreds of medical tests using just a single drop of blood. Despite being found guilty of fraud, she remains steadfast in her conviction that the technology could work, albeit acknowledging that some processes necessary for the tests are still in development. Elhosseiny now insists he has successfully created a working version of Holmes’ blood testing but has yet to present any formal evidence substantiating his claims.
Elhosseiny’s Bold Claims and Campaign
A self-taught biochemist, Elhosseiny has made headlines with his publicity efforts, including billboards in major cities like Miami, New York City, and Los Angeles, showcasing photos of both himself and Holmes. He appears briefly in “You Can See Everything,” and co-director Nathan Fielder delves into whether Holmes was aware her likeness was being used to promote another entity during her time in prison.
The Ongoing Fight for Justice
Despite the lack of verified results related to his technology, Elhosseiny maintains his belief in Holmes’s innocence and has launched a petition on his Just Blood website, calling on federal authorities to overturn her conviction. Since its inception last year, the petition garnered 346 signatures. “For five years, Ryan Elhosseiny studied the Theranos trial evidence to understand what Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos actually built,” the petition asserts. “We are asking the appropriate federal authorities to look at this complete technical evidence and reconsider what it means for the convictions of Elizabeth Holmes.”
A Personal Connection to Wrongful Conviction
Elhosseiny draws parallels between his own legal struggles and those of Holmes, claiming he was wrongfully convicted years ago. “I was wrongfully convicted for shooting into an occupied vehicle and attempted second-degree murder when all I did was shoot three shots into the air while I was being robbed,” he recounted. Now representing himself, he expresses empathy for others affected by wrongful convictions, stating, “The pain of being wrongfully convicted is a pain you cannot explain.”
Mixed Reviews of Media Portrayals
Though he has not yet watched “You Can See Everything,” Elhosseiny has issues with previous portrayals of Holmes, particularly in Hulu’s “The Dropout,” which he labeled “the biggest lie I’ve ever seen.” He specifically critiqued an episode depicting Holmes as having faked cancer tests: “Her test was correct on the cancer study. So tell me why in Hulu you are portraying somebody who faked cancer tests.”
As Elhosseiny and his supporters continue their campaigns, the complexities surrounding Elizabeth Holmes’s story remain a focal point of media discussion and public interest.
