[ad_1]
closing arguments Elizabeth Holmes’ fraud case It was expected to end on Friday, bringing the months-long saga closer to a verdict.
Ms. Holmes, who founded blood testing startup Theranos, is on trial for saving investors hundreds of millions of dollars and misleading patients and doctors. Theranos stood out, having previously reached a valuation of $9 billion. crashing in 2018 After it was revealed that the company’s blood tests were not working as Ms. Holmes had claimed.
After the closing discussions are complete and the jury’s instructions are given, the jurors – eight men and four women – will begin debating whether Ms. Holmes has committed 11 electronic frauds and conspiracy to commit electronic fraud. Mrs Holmes pleaded not guilty. If found guilty, he will face up to 20 years in prison, which could send shock waves through the rambling world of Silicon Valley start-ups.
Thursday, prosecutors summarized More than three months of testimony in the closing arguments while refuting some of the points made by Ms. Holmes’ lawyers. Jeffrey Schenk, assistant US attorney and attorney general for the case, said the government did not agree with the view that Ms. Holmes’ business failure was not a crime in itself. But in 2009 and 2010, as Theranos ran out of money, it “chosen fraud over business failure,” he said.
Mr. Schenk also addressed allegations of harassment against Ms. Holmes’ former business partner and boyfriend, Ramesh Balwani, known as Sunny. Mrs. Holmes’ emotional testimony Ms. Schenk said the abusive and authoritarian nature of their relationship was a separate issue from the fraud case.
“The lawsuit is about misrepresentations made to investors and misrepresentations made to patients.” “You don’t need to question whether this abuse has taken place.”
Ms. Holmes’ lawyer, Kevin Downey, also presented the first two hours of his final defense, reiterating an important point his camp had made over and over: The situation is much more complex than prosecutors realize.
Mr. Downey gave examples of cases where he claimed that the government’s evidence did not present the whole story. Multiple slides and others referring to “missing witnesses” not summoned by the government pared down the intricacies of Ms. Holmes’ understanding of the word “truth”.
“The government is showing an event that looks bad, but at the end of the day, when all the evidence comes together, it’s not so bad,” Mr. Downey said.
While injecting some confusion into the government’s narrative, Mr Downey also stressed that jurors must make a final judgment. It showed an image of an eight-step ladder that went “beyond a reasonable doubt” that jurors must reach to make a guilty verdict. The top step representing guilt was not labeled.
Friday’s trial was expected to begin with Mr Downey’s annotations, followed by detailed jury instructions by Judge Edward Davila of the Northern District of California.
[ad_2]
Source link