Judge rejects Elizabeth Holmes’ move to dismiss Theranos charges

A federal judge has shot down Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ last-ditch effort to dismiss fraud charges linked to her allegedly bogus blood-testing startup.

US District Judge Edward Davila on Tuesday denied the former Silicon Valley wunderkind’s motions to toss a slate of charges accusing her and ex-Theranos president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani of defrauding investors and patients who used the company’s services.

Davila rejected the pair’s arguments that prosecutors had taken too long to file the charges and that some of the alleged conduct underlying them was too old. But he stood by his previous ruling that the feds can’t argue the two should be convicted based on evidence they defrauded doctors, who can’t be considered victims in the case.

The decision clears the way for Holmes’ criminal trial to begin in March. The trial was initially set for October but got pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic. Davila wrote that the pandemic “continues to pose a significant hurdle to conducting a jury trial — especially for a case of this complexity.”

Both Holmes and Balwani have pleaded not guilty to charges that they peddled bogus blood tests with devices that they promoted as revolutionary but knew were unreliable and inaccurate. Balwani will face a separate trial that will start at a later date, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A lawyer for Holmes did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. A lawyer for Balwani declined to comment.