Holmes’ fate hangs in the balance as jury deliberates criminal fraud charges

Enlarge / Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes leaves the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building in San Jose, California, on December 17, 2021. (credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Who is to blame for the implosion of Theranos, the ill-fated blood-testing startup that folded in 2018, and did it amount to fraud? That's the question before 12 people today in San Jose, California, who will decide the fate of Elizabeth Holmes, the startup's founder and ex-CEO.

Jurors spent the final two days of last week hearing closing arguments from prosecution and defense attorneys. The latter said nearly everyone but Holmes was responsible for one of the most high-profile failures of a startup in recent history, while the former said that Holmes should be held accountable for what happened.

Holmes faced a choice

She chose to be dishonest," assistant US attorney Jeffrey Schenk told jurors in his closing argument. There were at least three decision points, three cash crunches, at which Holmes could have chosen to let Theranos slowly fade." Instead, she chose to go down the path of fraud."

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