Elizabeth Holmes Trial: Prosecution Rests Its Case on the Theranos Founder's Fraud Trial
Prosecutors on Friday rested their case against the fraud trial of the Theranos Founder, Elizabeth Holmes. Now, lawyers for Holmes are set to begin their defense later on Friday, The Guardian reported.
After the case has rested, the Theranos founder is slammed with at least 11 counts of fraud, including one count regarding a patient who was unwilling to testify.
In 11 weeks, the prosecution in San Jose, California is trying to prove that the Theranos founder "knowingly misled investors and patients" through misrepresenting the capabilities of her company's blood-testing devices.
Holmes may face up to 20 years imprisonment.
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Elizabeth Holmes Trial: More Than 2 Dozen Individuals Called to Witness
The government rested their case against the Silicon Valley executive as the prosecution called for more than two dozen individuals to testify during Friday's trial.
CNBC noted that ex-lab directors, patients, doctors, investors, and business partners took the stand on Friday's trial. Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis also testified as he was known to be a board member of Theranos.
Those who testified said that Theranos' blood-testing devices did not work as to how it was advertised, as the company reportedly returned inaccurate results.
It can be recalled that Theranos' blood tests promised a cheaper, faster, and more accurate than the traditional blood tests with their technology called "Edison machines."
Moreover, the witnesses also said that many blood tests were done by "external labs" rather than the laboratories owned by Theranos.
Elizabeth Holmes Testifies in Her Fraud Trial
Although legal experts said that it's risky for Elizabeth Holmes to testify, the Theranos founder surprisingly took a stand on Friday at 3 p.m., California time.
Kevin Downey, one of Holmes' defense attorneys, began the questioning, as the Theranos founder said that her team made a technological breakthrough between 2009 and 2010.
"We worked for years with teams of scientists and engineers to miniaturize all of the technologies in the laboratory," Holmes pointed out.
When asked about her declaration on how many blood tests Theranos could run and if she was limiting her comments to certain types of tests, Holmes said "no."
Reports noted that Holmes told prospective investors that their device can run up to 1,000 blood tests. However, company insiders, as well as whistleblower Erika Cheung said that the devices of the company could only run more than 12 different tests.
Holmes reportedly raised more than $940 million from institutions and wealthy individuals, making the company value $9 billion. Investors took the stand on behalf of the prosecution, saying that they were duped by the Theranos founder.
Ahead of Holmes taking a stand, NBC News Legal Analyst Danny Cevallos said that it will be risky for Holmes if she testifies.
"She's [Holmes] a very risky person to have to testify... Yes, she's very smart but there's a lot of prosecution evidence that she can be cross-examined about that she probably won't have a good answer for," Cevallos said.
According to reports, Holmes' defense is expected to center focus around the Theranos founder being influenced by her co-executive and former boyfriend Sunny Balwani. It can be recalled that Balwani was once the president and COO of Theranos. Balwani is also known to be a software engineer at Microsoft and Lotus before joining Holmes' company.
Holmes' defense team also listed several domestic violence experts as potential witnesses, as they were expected to argue that Holmes was abused and did not think clearly when she made decisions about her business that resulted in fraud.
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Written By: Joshua Summers
WATCH: Prosecutors to Wrap Case Against Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes - From CNBC