By Jody Godoy
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) – Elizabeth Holmes’ defense attorney made his final argument to jurors on Friday, saying the Theranos founder was “devoted to her mission” at the blood-testing startup and did not commit fraud.
As the three-month trial neared its end, attorney Kevin Downey said the evidence did not show Holmes was motivated by a cash crunch at Theranos, but rather thought she was “building a technology that would change the world.”
“You know that at the first sign of trouble, crooks cash out,” but Holmes stayed, Downey said. “She went down with that ship when it went down.”
Prosecutors allege Holmes lied to investors and retail customers, including by overstating what Theranos machines were capable of and the accuracy of its tests. She faces nine counts of fraud and two counts of conspiracy.
Once valued at $9 billion, Theranos collapsed after the Wall Street Journal published a series of articles, starting in 2015, that suggested its devices were flawed and inaccurate.
Jurors will hear rebuttal arguments from a prosecutor and legal instructions from the judge, and may begin deliberating in the case as soon as Friday afternoon.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in San Jose, Calif.; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Matthew Lewis and Jonathan Oatis)
