Elizabeth Holmes trial: What’s going on with the Theranos founder after ‘The Inventor’

Author: Rachel Kraus / Source: Mashable

The federal government is taking Elizabeth Holmes to court.

As you probably know by now, she was the founder and CEO of Theranos, the blood-testing startup featured in the HBO doc The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (as well as a book, podcast, and, soon, a feature film starring Jennifer Lawrence). Also being charged is former Theranos president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani.

The pair has already been tried in the court of public opinion. Now they will face litigation for making misleading claims about their company’s ability to accurately test pinpricks of blood for a catalog of diseases. Here is what is going on with the trial.

What are they charged with?

The government is charging Holmes and Balwani with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud.

The first conspiracy charge alleges that the two conspired to defraud investors, allegedly making “numerous misrepresentations to potential investors about Theranos’s financial condition and its future prospects,” according to the Justice Department.

Elizabeth Holmes & Sunny Balwani met in 2002 in China when she was 18 & he was almost 40. They were then together day & night for 14 years. Look how she looks at him! Their relationship mystifies me more than the consultant’s half beard in #TheInventor #TheInventorHBO pic.twitter.com/tiaSFZw9DY

— Jenn (@8675309Carson)

Twitter

The second conspiracy charge alleges that they schemed to mislead doctors and patients about the speed and accuracy of test results.

Most of the wire fraud charges concern six transactions. Investors transferred money to Theranos, which the prosecution says was based on fraudulent claims about what they were getting in return. Theranos also faces two counts for wiring test results to Walgreens patients in Arizona, and one for wiring money to a New York-based media firm in New York to buy ads for Theranos Wellness Centers in Arizona.

Why wire fraud?

While the claims Holmes and Balwani actually made to investors, doctors, and patients were allegedly fraudulent, it’s the actions associated with that fraud — receiving money, and sending money and test results —…

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