Elizabeth Holmes' fraud case heads to the jury

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SAN JOSE – The assemblage that volition determine whether erstwhile Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes turned her blood-testing startup into a monolithic scam yet got the lawsuit precocious Friday aft a three-month-long proceedings that captivated Silicon Valley.

The hand-off came aft lawyers for the opposing sides wrapped up a 2nd time of painstaking presentations summing up their respective interpretations of connected the grounds submitted to the assemblage done the grounds of 32 witnesses — including Holmes herself — and much than 900 exhibits.

The 8 men and 4 women connected the assemblage began their deliberations precocious Friday, and volition instrumentality the play disconnected earlier resuming Monday morning. They volition measurement 11 felony counts of fraud and conspiracy facing Holmes. If convicted, Holmes, 37, faces up to 20 years successful prison.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier communicative follows below.

SAN JOSE, Calif (AP) — A lawyer for erstwhile Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes connected Friday likened her last days moving the troubled blood-testing startup to a skipper valiantly trying to prevention a sinking ship.

Had Holmes committed immoderate crimes, she would person been scurrying to leap overboard similar a frightened rat, her lawyer, Kevin Downey, told jurors arsenic helium wrapped up astir 5 hours of closing arguments. Federal prosecutors spent 3 hours Thursday explaining wherefore the assemblage should convict her.

Referring to a 2016 turning constituent that threatened to ruin Theranos, Downey asked the jury: “Did she leave? No she stayed. Why? Because she believed successful this technology."

As helium did Thursday, Downey again depicted Holmes arsenic a well-meaning entrepreneur who ne'er stopped trying to cleanable Theranos’ blood-testing exertion and usage it to amended wellness care.

“She believed she was gathering a exertion that would alteration the world," Downey proclaimed Friday.

After national authoritative John Bostic completes a rebuttal argument, the lawsuit volition caput to the assemblage aft much than 14 weeks of extended grounds and an array of different grounds that includes much than 900 exhibits.

Bostic returned to galore of the themes touched upon successful Thursday's arguments erstwhile chap authoritative Jeffrey Schenk formed her arsenic a charlatan who brazenly lied to go affluent and famous. Those purported goals were achieved successful 2014 erstwhile Holmes became a media sensation with an estimated luck of $4.5 cardinal based connected her 50% involvement successful Theranos.

Holmes, present 37, is facing 11 felony counts of fraud and conspiracy alleging she duped investors, concern partners and patients astir Theranos' technology. She repeatedly claimed that the company's caller investigating instrumentality could scan for hundreds of diseases and different problems with a fewer drops of humor taken with a digit prick alternatively of a needle stuck successful a vein.

The conception was truthful compelling, Theranos and Holmes were capable to rise much than $900 cardinal from billionaire investors specified arsenic media magnate Rupert Murdoch and bundle titan Larry Ellison. The Palo Alto, California, institution besides negotiated perchance lucrative deals with large retailers Walgreens and Safeway and Holmes rapidly began to grace the covers of nationalist magazines arsenic a wunderkind.

Unknown to astir radical extracurricular Theranos the company’s blood-testing exertion was flawed, often producing inaccurate results that could person endangered the lives of patients who took the tests.

After the flaws were exposed successful 2015 and 2016, Theranos yet collapsed. The Justice Department filed its transgression lawsuit successful 2018.

“People mislaid money," Downey acknowledged Friday. “That is simply a atrocious lawsuit and a nonaccomplishment connected (Holmes') part." But, helium added, nary of it was criminal.

Downey told the assemblage that Holmes didn't recognize the scope of the problems until a Theranos laboratory manager informed her successful March 2016 that the institution had to invalidate 60,000 of its past humor tests.

Had Holmes thought immoderate crimes been committed, Downey posited, she would person tried to screen them up and possibly merchantability immoderate of her stock. Not lone did she ne'er merchantability a share, Downey said, she continued to effort to salvage the company. Her turnaround efforts included ousting Theranos' main operating officer, Sunny Balwani, who besides had been her lover.

In a melodramatic crook connected the witnesser basal past month, Holmes testified that Balwani had been covertly controlling everything from her fare to friendships portion subjecting her to mental, affectional and intersexual abuse. Although the grounds formed Holmes arsenic Balwani's pawn, Downey ne'er mentioned the alleged maltreatment and its effects connected her during his closing arguments.

That omission volition permission it to the assemblage to see whether spouse maltreatment whitethorn person affected immoderate of her decisions astatine Theranos. In the prosecution's closing argument, Schenk reminded the jurors that if they uncovering Holmes blameworthy of fraud won't mean they discounted her maltreatment allegations.

Balwani's lawyer adamantly denied Holmes' accusations successful tribunal documents that the assemblage ne'er saw. Jurors besides ne'er heard from Balwani, who intended to invoke his Fifth Amendment close against self-incrimination had been called to testify. Balwani, 56, faces akin fraud charges successful a abstracted proceedings scheduled to statesman successful February.

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