By Jody Godoy
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) – Prosecutors are scheduled to begin their final arguments in the trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes on Thursday and will urge jurors to convict the blood testing startup founder of fraud.
Holmes, 37, is on trial in San Jose, California, in a case that has shed light on Theranos’ failed endeavor to revolutionize lab testing with small machines that used only a few drops of blood.
Theranos was once valued at $9 billion and vaulted Holmes to Silicon Valley fame. Wealthy private investors including media mogul Rupert Murdoch invested millions in the company after meeting with the founder who was known for her Steve Jobs-like black turtleneck.
Prosecutors allege Holmes lied to those investors and retail customers, including by overstating what Theranos machines were capable of and the accuracy of its tests. She faces nine counts of fraud and two counts of conspiracy.
Testifying in her own defense, Holmes has said she did not intend to mislead anyone, and that the company’s laboratory directors were responsible for ensuring test accuracy.
Theranos collapsed after the Wall Street Journal published a series of articles starting in 2015 that suggested its devices were flawed and inaccurate. Holmes was indicted in 2018.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in San Jose, Calif.; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)
