Showbiz

Comedian Nathan Fielder fans baffled after visit to Theranos scammer Elizabeth Holmes in prison

Comedian Nathan Fielder fans baffled after visit to Theranos scammer Elizabeth Holmes in prison

Nathan Fielder threw his fans another curveball after he was reportedly seen visiting the disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in prison.

According to Jeff Sneider of The Insneider, Fielder has visited Holmes, 41, multiple times at FPC Bryan, a minimum-security federal prison located in Bryan, Texas, about 95 miles northwest of Houston.

Fielder hasn’t shared any details about his trips to the federal prison, but Sneider’s report suggests the comedian may be working on a documentary or some kind of experimental video project, according to Just Jared.

The 41-year-old actor has made a name for himself with comedy series that blurred the lines between documentary and fiction, including his breakthrough Comedy Central series Nathan For You and his HBO series The Rehearsal, which is set to return for its second season on April 20.

Fielder’s interest in Holmes piqued his fans’ curiosity, as she is infamous for founding the blood-testing company Theranos, which claimed that it was on the cusp of revolutionizing the industry after it developed a method to do full blood tests with only a small fingerprick’s worth of blood. 

Theranos’ valuation skyrocketed due to the promising technology, and Holmes briefly became a billionaire in the mid-2010s, before journalists and regulators discovered that Theranos’ flagship technology was bunk. 

Nathan Fielder, 41, threw his fans another curveball after he was reportedly seen visiting the disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in prison; seen in 2023 in NYC

Nathan Fielder, 41, threw his fans another curveball after he was reportedly seen visiting the disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in prison; seen in 2023 in NYC

According to Jeff Sneider of The Insneider , Fielder has visited Holmes, 41, multiple times at FPC Bryan, a minimum-security federal prison in Texas; Holmes is pictured in 2014

According to Jeff Sneider of The Insneider , Fielder has visited Holmes, 41, multiple times at FPC Bryan, a minimum-security federal prison in Texas; Holmes is pictured in 2014

In 2018, the Securities and Exchange commission charged Holmes, as well as her company and its former chief operating officer Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani, with fraudulently raising $700 million from investors by making false and exaggerated claims about the blood-testing service. 

She settled by paying a $500,000 fine and returning nearly 19 million shares of Theranos stock. 

Holmes also agreed to give up voting control of the company, and she accepted a 10-year ban from serving as a high-level executive at an public company. 

Read More Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes ‘always wanted to be a mom’ as she makes shocking jail admission article image

Things went from bad to worse later that year when Holmes and Balwani were hit with federal fraud charges. 

She was ultimately acquitted of defrauding Theranos’ patients, but she was convicted of defrauding the company’s investors.

She and Balwani were ordered to pay $452 million in resтιтution to their victims, and she was sentenced to just over 11 years in prison, a sentence she began serving in May of 2023.

Holmes would normally be a tough subject to make a documentary about, as she has been written about extensively, and her crimes were previously explored in Alex Gibney’s 2019 documentary The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley.

Holmes was also portrayed by Amanda Seyfried in the Hulu limited series The Dropout, which dramatized her rapid ascent and shocking fall.

Fielder hasn't shared any details about his trips, but Sneider's report suggests the comedian may be working on a documentary or an experimental video project, according to Just Jared; still from The Rehearsal

Fielder hasn’t shared any details about his trips, but Sneider’s report suggests the comedian may be working on a documentary or an experimental video project, according to Just Jared; still from The Rehearsal

Holmes is serving an 11-year sentence after being convicted on federal fraud charges. Her company Theranos falsely claimed to have created a blood test that only required far less blood than traditional tests; seen in 2015 in NYC

Holmes is serving an 11-year sentence after being convicted on federal fraud charges. Her company Theranos falsely claimed to have created a blood test that only required far less blood than traditional tests; seen in 2015 in NYC

Holmes was also portrayed by Amanda Seyfried in the Hulu limited series The Dropout, which dramatized her rapid ascent and shocking fall

Holmes was also portrayed by Amanda Seyfried in the Hulu limited series The Dropout, which dramatized her rapid ascent and shocking fall

Fielder broke out with 2013's Comedy Central series Nathan For You, which he followed with the acclaimed HBO series The Rehearsal and the Showtime series The Curse, which costarred Benny Safdie and Emma Stone; pictured together in January 2024 in Beverly Hills

Fielder broke out with 2013’s Comedy Central series Nathan For You, which he followed with the acclaimed HBO series The Rehearsal and the Showtime series The Curse, which costarred Benny Safdie and Emma Stone; pictured together in January 2024 in Beverly Hills

After a string of acclaimed comic performances, Fielder broke out in 2013 with his Comedy Central series Nathan For You.

He played a version of himself who tried to help struggling business and entrepreneurs with hilariously harebrained schemes.

His next series, The Rehearsal, featured Fielder using elaborate sets and carefully placed actors to replicate the experiences of real-life people in minute detail.

The following year, his Showtime series The Curse debuted. Fielder co-created the darkly comic slow-burn thriller with filmmaker Benny Safdie, and the two starred in the series with Emma Stone, with all three and Stone’s husband Dave McCary also serving as executive producers. 

Fielder and Stone played a married couple trying to create eco-friendly houses in New Mexico for an HGTV series, while Safdie played the show’s ethically challenged director. 

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