Trial of former Theranos exec Sunny Balwani draws to a close

Holmes, who has been the subject of multiple books, podcasts, a documentary and recently a Hulu series, was convicted on four counts of misleading investors in early January this year. The convictions carry possible sentences of fines and prison time, and she is expected to be sentenced in September.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes found guilty in landmark Silicon Valley fraud case

Theranos was a highflying biotech start-up founded in 2003 that eventually purported to be able to run hundreds of tests from just a few drops of blood drawn from a patient’s fingertip. The company attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, including from high-profile figures like prominent the Walton family of Walmart fame, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Mexican businessman Carlos Slim and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

Theranos’s board members included former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz and former secretary of defense Jim Mattis. Investors and the media seemed captivated by the young CEO — Holmes started the company when she was just 19 — and her desire to make medical testing cheaper and less painful.

But the company ultimately crumbled in 2018 after years of scrutiny from media and federal regulators. Theranos’s technology could not run nearly as many tests as suggested and results were plagued with inaccuracies. Holmes was charged with massive fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission and later the government leveled the criminal charges against her and Balwani.

What you need to know about Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos trial

The pair had their cases separated from each other after Holmes alleged in court documents that Balwani had abused her during their romantic relationship. He has denied the claims.

Balwani, like Holmes, has pleaded not guilty. His trial has mirrored hers in many ways, including calling several of the same witnesses who testified about the company’s lab conditions and their investments in the firm.

The Elizabeth Holmes trial is the hottest ticket in Silicon Valley

But unlike Holmes, Balwani did not testify in his own defense. His legal team called only two witnesses — a physician that used Theranos’s services, and a technology expert who testified about an electronic database that held Theranos test results but that the government was not able to access.

Holmes testified on the stand for more than 20 hours in November and December, drawing a large crowd to the small federal courtroom each day as international media and interested members of the public traveled to hear her speak in her own defense.

Closing arguments in Balwani’s trial are scheduled to begin Tuesday and will likely last more than a day. The trial, which has suffered coronavirus-related delays, could be in the jury’s hands as soon as this week.