Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos trial: here’s what you need to know about the highly anticipated case

Elizabeth Holmes, one of the most notorious figures in the Silicon Valley lore of the past decade, will finally have the chance to defend herself in court in the weeks to come. Disgraced founder and CEO of Theranos faces multiple counts of conspiracy and fraud over allegations she made about the once promising healthcare startup and its supposedly revolutionary invention in terms of blood tests. Investigations revealed that the technology had serious problems.

Jury selection for the trial is scheduled to begin Aug.31, with opening pleadings Sept.8 in federal court in San Jose, Calif. The courtroom drama has been going on for more than three years, with Holmes initially being indicted in June 2018. The trial has been repeatedly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and by the birth of Holmes’ child on the 10th. July of this year.

Here’s what to know about one of the biggest trials of the decade to date.

What happened to Holmes and Theranos?

In 2003, Holmes left Stanford University at age 19 to found Theranos in an attempt to disrupt the blood testing industry. The company said it was developing a proprietary technology that required collecting a smaller amount of blood than a conventional intravenous sample and was more portable than traditional tests sent to a lab.

Theranos began to gain more general public attention in 2013 when it listed Walgreens and Safeway as potential customers. At one point, the startup was valued at over $ 9 billion.

Holmes began appearing on the covers of various publications, including Fortune, sometimes making comparisons to Steve Jobs for his apparent powers of disruption and penchant for black high-necked tops.

But Holmes and Theranos’ fortunes began to change in 2015 when the Wall Street Journal took a closer look at the company. The Journal reported that only a small portion of the tests were done with the company’s testing machine, named Edison, and that many tests were done on machines from other companies, using diluted blood samples. The accuracy of the test results patients received from Theranos has also been questioned.

All this led to the charges laid against Holmes in 2018, a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the permanent shutdown of Theranos shortly thereafter.

A 2019 documentary, a book called Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou, and several podcasts about the company’s precipitous downfall have helped bring mainstream attention to the ‘story.

Former Theranos employee and whistleblower Tyler Shultz spoke to CNET in 2020 throughout the saga.

What is Holmes accused of?

Holmes is formally charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 10 counts of wire fraud.

“The charges stem from (Holmes’) allegedly misleading statements about (Theranos) and its medical testing technology,” read a statement from the US District Court in Northern California.

Basically, Holmes is accused of lying to patients about how the company’s blood tests work and how effective they are. Some of the accusations also concern Holmes who allegedly misled investors about the inner workings of Theranos and the revenue the company was expected to generate.

If found guilty, Holmes could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.

What is Holmes’ version of the story?

Although Holmes denied that the claims made by the original Journal report were true, she never told her side of the story in depth from that point on.

“This is what happens when you work to make a difference,” Holmes told CNBC’s Mad Money in 2015. “First they think you’re crazy, then they fight you, and then all of a sudden suddenly, you change the world. ”

The 37-year-old is said to have entered into a book deal to publicize her story. The book never materialized, but a widely acclaimed HBO documentary About the collapse of Theranos, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley from director Alex Gibney was released in 2019. It did not portray Holmes in a flattering light and she did not cooperate with the filmmakers, so his perspective on the events of the past half-decade remains largely a mystery.

One possibility is that Holmes contends that she followed something like the Silicon Valley philosophy of “pretend until you do” and that she always believed in the long-term potential of the company and its business. technology to finally keep its promises.

According to the Wall Street Journal, lawyers for Holmes said she could claim that “she believed all the misrepresentations were true and, therefore, that Theranos was a legitimate business generating value for investors.”

Saturday, newly unsealed court documents suggested Holmes could seek to defend herself by alleging that she had suffered psychological, sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of former Theranos president and ex-boyfriend Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, and that as a result of her submission to him, she believed that the alleged fraudulent statements she had made were true. Balwani’s lawyers called the abuse allegations “scandalous.” One of the documents filed by Holmes’ attorneys indicated that she was likely to testify.

We’ll see soon if Holmes finally steps up to say his side of things.

How can I watch the trial?

The trial officially begins on September 7, with opening arguments expected the next day. Judge Edward Davila is to preside. There will be no online stream of the trial and television cameras will not be allowed in the courtroom, so the best way to follow the case will be through reporters in the room taking notes. old.

Balwani faces similar charges in a separate trial scheduled for next year.

Holmes and Balwani have pleaded not guilty.