Elizabeth Holmes jury starts second week of deliberations

The jury weighing fraud charges against former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes started second week of deliberations Monday. Holmes faces 11 criminal charges alleging that she duped investors and patients by hailing her company’s blood-testing technology as a medical breakthrough when in fact it was prone to wild errors.

The eight men and four women on the jury have been meeting in a San Jose, California, federal courthouse after absorbing reams of evidence during a high-profile trial that has captivated Silicon Valley. The jurors deliberated for three days last week before adjourning Thursday

afternoon for the holiday weekend.

The case has attracted worldwide attention. At its core is the rise and fall of Holmes, who started Theranos as a 19-year-old college dropout and then went on to break through Silicon Valley’s male-dominated culture with her bold claims and fundraising savvy. She become a billionaire on paper before it all evaporated amid allegations she was more of a charlatan than an entrepreneur.

Holmes, now 37, spent seven days on the witness stand acknowledging she made some mistakes and decisions she regretted while staunchly maintaining that she never stopped believing Theranos was on the verge of revolutionizing health care.

Holmes spent years promising Theranos would be able to scan for hundreds of diseases and other health problems with just a few drops of blood taken with a finger prick instead of relying on vials of blood drawn from a vein.

It was such a compelling concept that Theranos raised more than $900 million and struck partnerships with major retailers Walgreens and Safeway. Holmes herself became the subject of cover stories on business magazines. (AP)