After two delays, two documentaries, and enough podcast hours to fill even the longest of road trips, the Theranos saga is finally headed for the courtroom. Elizabeth Holmes, founder and former CEO of the disgraced testing company, will stand trial starting this week on charges of conspiracy and fraud. She is accused of lying to investors, patients, and the public as Theranos became a multibillion-dollar darling of Silicon Valley.
The trial is the summation of the decade-long cautionary tale that is Theranos, a company that raised hundreds of millions of dollars on a revolutionary premise that proved to be false, buoyed by its charismatic founder, credulous investors, and an adulatory public. Holmes’s fate is sure to resonate in the startup world, where self-appointed visionaries court massive investments with ambitions that don’t always comport with reality.
It could also be quite the spectacle. Among the potential witnesses are big-name supporters of Theranos, including media magnate Rupert Murdoch, former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Holmes might even take the stand herself, depending on how her attorneys approach her defense.
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