NEW YORK – Jury selection in the fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes began Tuesday, casting a spotlight on the fallen Silicon Valley star now facing felony charges alleging she duped elite financial backers, customers and patients into believing that her startup was about to revolutionize medicine, AP reported.
But the Theranos technology, which promised to run hundreds of medical tests using a single drop of blood, never lived up to expectations, and may never have worked at all.
Once a jury is seated, the trial will begin in San Jose, California, with opening arguments scheduled early next week. The trial will revolve around the rise and fall of Theranos, a startup that Holmes launched after dropping out of Stanford University in 2003.
At one point, it looked like Holmes might realize her lofty ambitions of becoming the next Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder she embraced as a role model. Not that long ago, business magazines hailed the similarities, featuring Holmes in cover stories about her vision and her estimated fortune $4.5 billion based on her stake in Theranos.
