FILE PHOTO: Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos, attends a panel discussion during the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting in New York, U.S., September 29, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her former second-in-command at the Silicon Valley blood-testing startup were ordered on Friday to stand trial next year on fraud charges stemming from their claims about the company’s technology, court documents show.
During a hearing in federal court in San Jose, California, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila set jury selection to begin in the trial of Holmes, 35, and former Theranos President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, on July 28, 2020, according to minutes of the proceedings.
Both have pleaded not guilty.
Davila ordered the trial itself, which was expected to last three months, to begin in August 2020.
Prosecutors have said Holmes and Balwani used advertising and solicitations to encourage doctors and patients to use its blood testing laboratory services, despite knowing the company could not produce accurate and reliable results consistently.
The criminal charges came after Holmes settled civil fraud charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under which she was barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years.
Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Tom Brown