Elizabeth Holmes. The founder of the biotech startup Theranos surprised everyone when she took the stand on Friday in the blockbuster fraud trial over her company’s epic blowup in 2018. Most criminal defendants do not testify in white-collar cases, experts say, because one misstep could be easily exploited by the prosecution.
The backstory: Holmes faces 11 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy (each carries a max sentence of 20 years in prison) for allegedly swindling investors out of nearly $1 billion with bogus claims about the effectiveness of her company’s tech.
Since the trial began in September, government prosecutors have argued that Holmes’s actions (lying to investors about a military contract, for example) amounted to criminal fraud. They rested after 11 weeks of arguments on Friday to make way for the defense.
Holmes’s team will argue that she tried her darndest to make Theranos work, but came up short. And the only thing she did wrong was put her faith in her then-boyfriend and business partner, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani.
Looking ahead…Holmes talked for just an hour on Friday, mainly about the early days of Theranos. She’ll continue testifying today and tomorrow.
