Subscribe to the Guardian Today US Newsletter
Theranos’ alleged fraudster, Elizabeth Holmes, is pregnant, according to a new court report, which could delay her trial by several weeks.
Holmes is charged with fraud for her role in steering Theranos, a blood testing company that was a rising star in Silicon Valley before it appeared to have misrepresented the effectiveness of its technology.
Holmes’ lawyers asked the judge on March 2 to postpone the start of the jury trial until August 31, after her deadline.
“The parties have met and are meeting, and both parties agree that, in view of this development, it is not feasible to begin the trial on July 13, 2021, as currently scheduled,” the submission said.
Holmes, who dropped out of Stanford at the age of 19, founded Theranos in 2003 with the aim of revolutionizing blood tests. She quickly became a star in the startup space that is largely dominated by men.
The rise and fall of the company has become a warning about the pitfalls of the Silicon Valley hype machine: it has received glowing media coverage and raised more than $ 700 million from investors, according to allegations that he invented a machine that cost hundreds could perform laboratory tests with one finger. -pick of blood. The tests were rolled out in Walgreens stores and Theranos reached a valuation of $ 9 billion before it became clear that many of the allegations about the company’s so-called revolutionary blood test were incorrect.
Holmes and former Theranos president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding investors, doctors and patients. Theranos’ tests for calcium, potassium, HIV and diabetes, for example, misrepresented its effectiveness.
“Based on these representations, many hundreds of patients have paid their medical insurance companies or resulted in them paying Theranos for blood tests and test results, sometimes after referrals from their fraudulent doctors,” the initial charge sheet reads.
Holmes was charged in 2018 and her federal trial in San Jose, California, was originally scheduled for July 28, 2020, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Balwani’s case is being handled separately and his trial is scheduled for January 18.
The Silicon Valley saga inspired a best-selling book, a popular podcast, several documentaries, and a feature film.