Elizabeth Holmes trial: Jury deliberations begin

Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Keenan reports the latest from the Elizabeth Holmes trial.

Video transcript

- Well, jury deliberations have begun in the case against Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. The jury, eight men, four women, are looking specifically at whether, in fact, that Theranos founder misled investors as she built out a $9 billion blood testing startup. Let's bring in Yahoo Finance's Alexis Keenan, who's in San Jose for us following this story, and, Alexis, tough to always predict the timeline in these cases but certainly a lot of attention going to be placed on this, especially going into the holiday week.

ALEXIS KEENAN: No doubt, Akiko. I'm standing outside the courthouse here in San Jose, and as you said, jury deliberations, they just began shortly after 8:30 AM. So the jurors have been deliberating for their first 30 minutes approximately so far. This all comes after closing arguments ended late on Friday.

Elizabeth Holmes, who's Silicon Valley blood testing company Theranos imploded in 2018, she is facing 11 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy. Each of those counts alone carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. She's looking at six counts of wire fraud allegedly against investors, three counts of wire fraud allegedly inducing patient for paying for the blood testing tests that her company was offering. She's also facing one count each of conspiracy against investors and patients.

Now, it doesn't appear that Elizabeth Holmes is present here at the Federal Courthouse. Her jury, as you said, comprised of eight men, four women. They'll determine her fate. There are also two alternates in the event that one of the jurors cannot carry out their duty. If needed, this week, deliberations are currently scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. After that, to be determined.

Though in the event that we do get a verdict at any time today or otherwise, we've been told that there will be a 30 minute notice and then the decision will be read in open court. Sentencing for these cases for a felony case in California, that must take place usually within 20 days of a verdict, so we don't envision a situation here where Elizabeth Holmes would be taken into custody right away. Though that can happen in certain cases, depending on flight risk and other variables, Akiko