Twelve jurors will decide the fate of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Jurors to consider the testimony of 31 witnesses over a three-month period as they begin their deliberations.
According to CNBC, the case was handed over to the jurors around 4:40 p.m. on Friday (local time) after Judge Edward Davila finished reading the instructions.
Holmes, who started the blood test company in 2003 and dropped out of Stanford to study it, faces nine counts of fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, while pleading not guilty.
Kevin Downey, Holmes’s defense attorney, made his final statement earlier Friday, arguing that his client should be acquitted of all charges.
“At the first sign of a problem, fraudsters cash in, criminals disguise themselves and rats leave a sinking ship,” Downey said. “She did not do any of these.”
Downey said Holmes, now 37, had dedicated her life to creating Theranos and never intended to deceive investors. He reminded jurors that Holmes dropped out of college, dropped out of her youth and lost friendships because she “believed she had created a technology that could change the world.”
He emphasized that Holmes’s wealth was linked to Theranos’ success and that he had never sold any of its shares. “It sank with the ship when it sank,” Downey said. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Elizabeth Holmes.”
Downey tried to overthrow the government in more than three hours. He said Holmes did not deliberately falsify the company’s finances to attract money from investors.
The position of the government
“The illness that plagued Theranos was not a lack of effort, but a lack of honesty,” said Assistant Prosecutor John Bostic.
Theranos should not be confused with a company that has failed despite its hard work, Bostic said.
“We admire people who set ambitious goals and start to achieve them,” Bostic said. “This case went badly for Theranos and Holmes when they made the other choice, when they refused to accept failure and turned to breaking the law instead.”
In order for Holmes to be found guilty, jurors must decide unanimously and beyond any doubt that the businesswoman, once described as the youngest self-made billionaire woman, intended to deceive investors and patients.
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Source From: Capital
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