SAN JOSE (Calif.) — The jury weighing fraud allegations against Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO of Theranos, will return to work Monday after a long holiday break.
Four women and eight men who would decide Holmes’ fate spent a lot of the holiday season behind closed doors in San Jose, California. They weighed reams upon reams evidence during a three month trial that captured Silicon Valley.
The jurors were released on Thursday before a Friday court holiday, as they failed to reach a verdict. After sending two notes to the federal judge who presided over the case last week, they hadn’t given any indication of where they were at the end of their deliberations.
There was no reason to stop the proceedings earlier than anticipated last week. Holmes is a disgraced technology star who has been convicted of a number of charges. The jury has already spent approximately 40 hours discussing them over six days. She could face up to 20 years imprisonment if she is convicted.
Holmes, 37, faces 11 criminal charges. She is accused of claiming that Holmes misled investors and patients by hailing the blood-testing technology she created as a medical breakthrough, when it was in fact prone to wild mistakes.
Holmes was briefly able to realize her dreams of fame and fortune before the problems were revealed in 2015 and 2016, by stories in The Wall Street Journal, and a regulatory audit. She raised more than $900million from a group of prominent investors, including Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison, and also attracted support from the Walton family, which is behind Walmart.
Holmes was a visionary and had an estimated fortune of $4.5 Billion on paper at Theranos’ peak.
The jury will spend the seventh day trying decide if she was a cheat.
