Elizabeth Holmes arrived at a hearing in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday ahead of a trial in which she is accused of deceiving Theranos investors and patients.
Photo: kate munsch/Reuters
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes appeared in a federal courtroom in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday for the first time in more than a year, attending the first in three days of arguments that will shape what jurors can hear at her approaching criminal fraud trial.
Ms. Holmes faces criminal charges stemming from the failed blood-testing startup she launched as a Stanford University dropout in 2003 and ran until its dissolution in 2018. Prosecutors allege that she and former Chief Operating Officer Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani deceived investors and patients by promising the company’s blood-testing technology could do more than it actually could.
The U.S. attorney’s office in the Northern District of California and attorneys for Ms. Holmes have been sparring for months over the scope of evidence to be permitted during the trial, which is currently slated for late August. The trial has been delayed several times, first because of the coronavirus pandemic and most recently after Ms. Holmes told the court she is due to have a baby in July.
Ms. Holmes and Mr. Balwani, whose trial will be held separately after hers concludes, have each pleaded not guilty.
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U.S. District Judge Edward Davila has set aside three days this week, starting Tuesday, for arguments on more than 20 motions over what jurors will be allowed to hear at trial. The hearings are being held in person in a courtroom closed to the public, after months of proceedings held virtually because of the pandemic.
Ms. Holmes’s lawyers are expected to argue that prosecutors shouldn’t be able to call former patients as witnesses who say they received inaccurate test results and shouldn’t be able to show jurors regulator reports finding issues with Theranos labs. Other motions ask to restrict information on Ms. Holmes’s wealth and to keep out a spreadsheet of text messages that the government said she and Mr. Balwani had exchanged.
Prosecutors are expected to argue that Ms. Holmes shouldn’t be able to defend herself by blaming Theranos investors who lost money or by saying Silicon Valley startup founders frequently exaggerate or make dramatic promises to attract money. Prosecutors are also set to ask the judge to allow evidence of the consequences of Theranos’s alleged actions, including that the company received customer complaints that went ignored.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Judge Davila said as the hearing opened Tuesday morning.
The Collapse of Theranos
WSJ’s coverage of the blood-testing startup’s unraveling, selected by the editors:
Write to Sara Randazzo at [email protected]
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