theranos trial
Bulletins

Elizabeth Holmes testifies in her defense

The former Theranos CEO began her testimony on Friday.

Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes has taken the stand.

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes took the stand in a San Jose courtroom on Friday, beginning her testimony in the criminal fraud case against her.

So far, Holmes' attorneys have stuck to a few themes of her defense, including highlighting Holmes' inexperience as a college dropout and pointing the finger at Sunny Balwani, Theranos' former COO and president. She began her testimony by covering her background and how she came up with the idea of Theranos during college.

Her testimony comes after 11 weeks of prosecution with 29 witnesses called by the U.S. government. Despite it being the time for the government to make its case, Holmes' defense team has so far spent more hours interrogating witnesses during cross-examination than the government's attorneys did.

The prosecution rested on Friday and ended up removing a charge against Holmes after a patient was unable to testify. She now faces 11 counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Her testimony is expected to resume next week.

Biz Carson

Biz Carson ( @bizcarson) is a San Francisco-based reporter at Protocol, covering Silicon Valley with a focus on startups and venture capital. Previously, she reported for Forbes and was co-editor of Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups list. Before that, she worked for Business Insider, Gigaom, and Wired and started her career as a newspaper designer for Gannett.

elizabeth holmestheranos trial
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