Yahoo Finance Elizabeth Holmes trial date: When does the Theranos fraud trial start?
Elizabeth Holmes’s fraud trial begins on Tuesday 31 August at the federal courthouse in San Jose, California.
She faces multiple charges of conspiracy and fraud for her lead role in the Theranos scandal as the company’s founder and former chief executive officer.
The disgraced blood-testing start-up wowed the tech investment world before collapsing in a storm over the efficacy of the technology supposedly at its core.
Theranos was at one point valued at approximately $9bn, but is now a byword for corporate misconduct, with Ms Holmes accused of lying to patients about testing, and investors about projected revenues.
The once-lauded founder faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Previously scheduled trial dates were postponed three times due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On 2 March 2021, counsel for the defendant advised the government that Ms Holmes was pregnant once agin pushing the start date back, this time from 13 July to 31 August.
When the trial begins on Tuesday, her son will be just weeks old.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, court trial days will be Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, with the possibility of other half days.
The court may modify the trial time and set either 8.30am to 2pm or 9am to 2pm with some 30-minute breaks in between likely.
Hearings will take place in San Jose, Courtroom 4, 5th Floor before Judge Edward J. Davila.
It is thought her defence lawyers may argue that she is guilty of nothing more than optimistically believing in her product, or that her actions are attributable to a “mental disease”, according to reporting by Bloomberg Businessweek. It is unknown if she will take the stand.
Expected to last approximately three months, it is one of the most-anticipated trials of the year.
Former chief operating officer of Theranos Ramesh Balwani, known as Sunny, will face the court in January 2022.
Both Ms Holmes and Mr Balwani have pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
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