Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes just reported to prison to begin her 11-year sentence. Here's what we know about her partner, Billy Evans.

William "Billy" Evans shares two young children with Elizabeth Holmes and appeared alongside her daily during her monthslong trial.

Philip Pacheco/Getty Images

• Elizabeth Holmes, the Theranos founder who has been convicted of fraud, reported to prison May 30 to begin her 11-year sentence.
• During her sentence, she'll be separated from her partner, William "Billy" Evans, and their two kids.
• Here's what we know about Evans, including how he met Holmes and his initial hesitation about dating her.

Elizabeth Holmes reported to a Texas women's prison on Tuesday to begin her sentence of more than 11 years. During this time, she'll be separated from her family, including her partner, William "Billy" Evans, and their children, a son born in July 2021 and a daughter born this February.

Evans is heir to a chain of hotels in California and was her daily companion at her monthslong trial.

Not much is known about their relationship, but a recent New York Times profile and Holmes' trial revealed more about the couple, including the story of how they met, and Evans' initial hesitation about a relationship with Holmes.

Here's everything we know about Billy Evans, Elizabeth Holmes' partner:

William "Billy" Evans grew up near San Diego, California. He's one of three children born to his parents, Susan and William L. Evans.

Sebastien Burel/Shutterstock

Source: Daily Mail

The Evans family has lived in the San Diego area for generations. Billy Evans' grandparents, Anne and William D. Evans, founded a hotel management group in 1953 called Evans Hotels. The group manages three properties in the San Diego area.

The Lodge Torrey Pines in La Jolla, one of the properties owned by Evans Hotels.

Shutterstock.com

Source: Evans Hotels

After William D. Evans died in 1984, his widow, Anne, added two of her children to the Evans Hotels management team, including William L. Evans, who is Billy Evans' father.

Catamaran Resort Hotel, another property managed by Evans Hotels.

Google Maps

Source: Evans Hotels

Billy Evans attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he graduated in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in economics. During summers between school, Evans worked at various financial and consulting companies in California, according to his LinkedIn. He was also a student brand manager at Red Bull while at MIT.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Facebook/Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Source: LinkedIn

While at MIT, Evans studied abroad in China on a full scholarship, his LinkedIn says. He studied Chinese language and literature at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Fudan University in China.

Reuters/Aly Song/File Photo

Source: LinkedIn

After graduating from MIT, Evans reportedly tried to launch a healthcare startup for transporting wealthy Chinese people to the US for "concierge medical attention." Although he studied Chinese in college, Evans wasn't fluent in the language, and the idea never took off.

Pedestrians in Shanghai, China.

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Source: New York Post

After that startup idea failed, Evans worked at LinkedIn as a strategy and analytics leadership program analyst. He worked there until February 2017.

Darren Weaver

Source: LinkedIn

Evans then moved to Luminar Technologies, a startup working on radar and sensor technology for autonomous cars. His LinkedIn says he was a manager of special projects, but employees told the Post he was fond of "wandering around with absolute purpose, but no one knew what that purpose was."

Luminar CEO Austin Russell monitors a 3D lidar map on a demonstration drive in San Francisco.

AP Photo/Ben Margot

Source: LinkedIn, New York Post

Evans was reportedly close with Luminar's CEO, Austin Russell. He acted as Russell's "secret police" who would "strut around the office and tell people what to do," the New York Post reports.

Luminar CEO Austin Russell.

AP Photo/Ben Margot

Source: New York Post

Holmes and Evans met in 2017, according to a letter Evans wrote.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

In November, Holmes' attorneys filed 130 such letters from friends and family seeking leniency in her sentencing.

In his, Evans, who is eight years younger than the 39-year-old Holmes, talked about the couple's story, including his initial hesitation to pursue a relationship with Holmes, and gave a glimpse into their private lives throughout the trial as he made his plea for a lighter sentence.

Evans says they "immediately fell in love."

David Odisho/Getty Images

They met in San Francisco at a house party during Fleet Week to benefit wounded warriors, according to The New York Times. Holmes spoke with the Times for a profile in May in her first interview since 2016. Evans had gone to get ice for a party at his apartment but dropped by the benefit, where a mutual friend introduced him to Holmes, and they talked for three hours, per the Times.

"My friends were texting, 'Where are you? We're here," Evans told the Times. "To say we immediately fell in love isn't an overstatement."

Evans wrote in his letter to the judge that he and Holmes "walked away from the others, and it was as if the rest of the world ceased to exist."

He said Holmes wore a sunhat and oversized glasses to try to "stay under the radar," and he didn't initially recognize her as they spoke.

"It was strange to feel so comfortable and willing to share with someone who I didn't know. I was captivated by her childish wonder and authenticity," he added in his letter. "We spoke for hours, I lost track of time, and even if I didn't know it ... I fell in love. She pulled out her business card, scribbled her personal cell on the back and then it clicked who she was."

Evans said they remained "just friends" for six months, writing, "I was admittedly hesitant to dive in given all that had been said, Liz had been consistently vilified in every piece of media imaginable."

Ethan Swope/Getty Images

"The more I got to know her the more I loved who she was," he continued in his letter. "It was not long before the friendship turned into something more."

Evans said in his letter that Holmes swam the Golden Gate Bridge earlier this year while pregnant and shared other details about their personal lives.

AMY OSBORNE/AFP via Getty Images

Evans wrote that the couple's husky, Balto, was taken from their front porch by a mountain lion and killed. His letter, and several others in the filing, also said that Holmes is a volunteer for a sexual assault crisis helpline, and Evans said she was recently "working on draft state legislation to help ensure victims of sexual violence and rape will be granted their survivors rights and receive the care they need."

Holmes had testified during her trial that she was raped in her sophomore year at Stanford and separately alleged that she was emotionally and sexually abused by Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, her ex-boyfriend and former right-hand man at Theranos. Balwani's attorneys denied the abuse allegations during the trial.

Meanwhile, Evans said he and Holmes don't have privacy because of the trial and have moved multiple times after their home address was revealed. He said that their son has been "avoided by other families not wanting to expose their children to my family."

"This will follow us for the rest of our lives," he wrote. "There is no avoiding the scorn that accompanies Elizabeth Holmes."

The two were first spotted in public together in August 2018 at Burning Man, the arts festival in the Nevada desert, just days before Theranos fully shut down.

Jim Urquhart/Reuters

Source: Daily Mail

The couple have regularly posted pictures "professing their love for each other" on a private Instagram account, Vanity Fair's Nick Bilton reports.

—Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) February 21, 2019

Source: Vanity Fair

Evans left his job at Luminar in January 2019. Luminar employees told the Post they suspect the reason was the potentially bad publicity surrounding Evans' relationship with Holmes.

HBO

Source: New York Post

Today, Evans says he does "a lot of different stuff."

Nick Otto/AFP/Getty Images

When asked by the Times' reporter, Amy Chozick, what he does for work, he offered vaguely, "A lot of different stuff — investing, starting companies."

As recently as 2019, Holmes and Evans lived in a $5,395-a-month apartment in San Francisco, according to CNBC. The unit was located in the Russian Hill neighborhood near Lombard Street, the iconic crooked street and well-known tourist attraction.

Rent SF Now

Source: CNBC, Business Insider

Vanity Fair reported in February 2019 that Holmes and Evans had gotten engaged.

David Odisho/Getty Images

That June, Vanity Fair reported that Holmes and Evans had tied the knot in a secretive wedding ceremony.

Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images; Samantha Lee/Business Insider

Source: Vanity Fair

Evans' parents were reportedly "flabbergasted" at their son's decision to marry Holmes, the Post reports.

Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos, speaks with Jonathan Krim, global technology editor at the Wall Street Journal, at the Wall Street Journal Digital Live (WSJDLive) conference at the Montage hotel in Laguna Beach, California, October 21, 2015.

REUTERS/Mike Blake

Source: New York Post

Evans was a fixture in Holmes' trial, accompanying her to court daily and even forming the crux of one of her Hail Mary attempts to avoid prison.

Nick Otto/AFP via Getty Images

After Holmes was convicted, she made several attempts to avoid prison time.

Peter DaSilva/Reuters

As the clock was running out with a scheduled sentencing date fast approaching, she requested a new trial on the grounds that a key government witness visited her home in August expressing regrets that his testimony had helped convict her.

The witness was Adam Rosendorff, who was Theranos' lab director from April 2013 to November 2014. Holmes' motion relied heavily on a recollection of the encounter documented by Evans, who spoke with Rosendorff when he appeared at their home.

In an email to Holmes' attorneys recalling his encounter with Rosendorff, Evans wrote: "He said he feels guilty, it seemed like he was hurting. He said when he was called as a witness he tried to answer the questions honestly but that the prosecutors tried to make everybody look bad (in the company). He said that the government made things sound worse than they were when he was up on the stand during his testimony. He said he felt like he had done something wrong. And that this was weighing on him, He said he was having trouble sleeping."

The judge agreed to postpone Holmes' sentencing to hear Rosendorff out, giving Holmes a small victory, but it backfired on her when Rosendorff stood by his testimony in the hearing, saying, "She needs to pay her debt to society."

Rosendorff explained that he'd felt bad for Holmes because of the possibility that a child would grow up without a mother, but he stressed that his testimony was accurate.

Evans' dad, William L. Evans, seen here in a black mask, even made headlines at Holmes' trial one day.

NICK OTTO/AFP via Getty Images

NPR reported in September that a man who identified himself as a "concerned citizen" named Hanson defended Holmes to news reporters at her trial; in actuality, NPR reports, the man was the older Evans.

In April 2023, Holmes was dealt a blow as a judge denied her request to remain out of prison while she appeals her conviction.

William "Billy" Evans shares two young children with Elizabeth Holmes and appeared alongside her daily during her monthslong trial.

Philip Pacheco/Getty Images

The decision meant she was expected to report to prison as scheduled on April 27 to begin serving her sentence.

Holmes later appealed the judge's decision, which triggered an automatic delay of her prison reporting date, in accordance with court rules, allowing her to remain free for a few more weeks. In May, her request was denied again, and she was ordered to report to prison May 30 and to pay, with Balwani, $452 million in restitution to victims of their fraud at Theranos.

On May 30, Holmes reported to Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, a minimum-security women's prison located about 100 miles from Houston, where she grew up.

AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File

During her sentence, she'll be separated from Evans and their two children, a son born in July 2021 and a daughter born in February 2023.

Source: Insider

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