For the first time in her criminal-fraud trial, Elizabeth Holmes on Tuesday took aim at the most serious allegations made against her by prosecutors, offering a narrative of herself as a well-intentioned if inexperienced entrepreneur who had some success in her effort to transform healthcare, the Wall Street Journal reported. Holmes’s full day of testimony was her longest yet in her defense against 11 charges of fraud and conspiracy relating to her time running defunct startup Theranos Inc., which collapsed in 2018. It followed 11 weeks of testimony supporting the prosecution’s case that Ms. Holmes ran into trouble trying to build her blood-testing company and knowingly misled investors and patients about her technology’s capabilities. Her testimony on Tuesday, her third day on the witness stand, sought to pick apart what lawyers following the trial have deemed the prosecution’s strongest evidence. Holmes told the jury that she added the logos of major pharmaceutical companies to Theranos documents with honest intentions; that she didn’t try to avert regulatory oversight but was transparent with the Food and Drug Administration; and that Theranos turned to using commercial blood analyzers to deal with higher blood-sample volumes caused by a retail partner’s decision, not because it was trying to mislead anyone about what its own devices could do. (Subscription required.)
