Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is pregnant, fraud trial delayed

Attorney for Theranos’ Holmes asks for trial delay over coronavirus pandemic

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes’ attorney has asked to push back her trial date until April 2021 citing coronavirus concerns. FOX Business’ Melissa Francis with more.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ upcoming trial for alleged felony fraud will be delayed several weeks after attorneys for the prosecution and defense revealed in court documents that she is pregnant, according to multiple reports Friday.

Holmes’ trial on several charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud was scheduled to begin on July 13. In a court filing, attorneys for both sides asked a judge in US District Court in San Jose to push back the start because Holmes is pregnant “with an expected due date in July 2021,” Bay Area News Group reported.

Defense attorneys and federal prosecutors asked the judge to reschedule jury selection for Aug. 31. The trial was already delayed multiple times due to complications related to the coronavirus pandemic.

EMBATTLED THERANOS FOUNDER ELIZABETH HOLMES DOUBLES DOWN ON EFFORTS TO KEEP 'WEALTH, SPENDING AND LIFESTYLE' FROM FRAUD CASE

Holmes is married to hotel heir Billy Evans, Vanity Fair reported in 2019.

Elizabeth Holmes, founder and former CEO of Theranos, arrives for motion hearing on Monday, November 4, 2019, at the U.S. District Court House inside Robert F. Peckham Federal Building in San Jose, California. (Photo by Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty (Getty Images)

Theranos once achieved a $9 billion valuation, touting a medical device that could purportedly perform an array of vital medical tests with just a few drops of a patients’ blood. In 2015, Forbes noted that Holmes was the world’s youngest female billionaire.

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But the company collapsed after a series of reports from the Wall Street Journal that Theranos’ machines could not perform the functions that Holmes claimed. Prosecutors charged Holmes and former Theranos chief operating officer Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, with defrauding investors and the public.

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Holmes faces maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and a $2.75 million fine if convicted on the fraud charges, according to the Justice Department. Both defendants have denied wrongdoing.

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