Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes arrives in a federal court in San Jose, California, July 17, 2019 for a hearing. REUTERS Stephen Lam File Photo
SAN JOSE, Calif. Nov 29, Reuters -- Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes testified on Monday that she believed the blood-testing startup could develop technology for the battlefield but dismissed accusations that she had touted its use by the U.S. military.
Holmes, 37, has pleaded not guilty to nine wire fraud counts and two conspiracy counts. She is accused of lying about Theranos, which had promised to run diagnostic tests more quickly and accurately than traditional lab testing with a drop of blood from a finger prick.
Prosecutors have claimed that one of the ways Holmes misled investors was by misguiding them into believing that Theranos devices were being used by the U.S. military in the field.
Holmes testified for a fourth day that she did not believe she had ever claimed that Theranos devices were being used on military medical evacuation helicopters.
Holmes said she had occasionally talked about military contracts, but emphasized the company's retail work.
Holmes said that she was disappointed that the now defunct company was not able to deliver on a 2012 agreement with the U.S. Central Command to create devices for testing at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, after spending tens of millions of dollars on the project.
She said that she continued to believe that we would see it through.
Holmes testified from behind a clear partition without a face mask, like other witnesses who have appeared over the course of the trial.
Theranos vaulted Holmes, who was a Stanford University dropout, to Silicon Valley stardom once valued at $9 billion. Theranos collapsed after the Wall Street Journal published a series of articles starting in 2015 that suggested its devices were flawed and inaccurate. Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds was in the courtroom watching Holmes testify on Monday. Holmes' cross examination is expected to begin in the afternoon.
Holmes denied lying to the Walgreens WBA.O drugstore chain about her company's technology last week, offering rationales for withholding important details about operations and internal reports.
Since the trial began in September, jurors in San Jose have heard that Holmes defrauded investors between 2010 and 2015 and deceived patients when Theranos began making its tests commercially available, including through a partnership with Walgreens.
Prosecutors said that Holmes turned to fraud after pharmaceutical companies lost interest in the Theranos technology. Her attorneys told jurors that Holmes was a young, hardworking entrepreneur whose company failed.
Holmes believes that Theranos could have achieved its goal of a miniaturized device that would make diagnostic testing cheaper and more accessible, pointing to positive results from early work with drugmakers including Pfizer Inc PFE.N Plans to place Theranos devices in Walgreens stores that will cause regulatory and logistical challenges.
During the trial, jurors heard testimony from more than two dozen prosecution witnesses, including patients and investors, who prosecutors said Holmes was deceived.
The former Theranos Chief Operating Officer Ramesh Sunny Balwani, who is also facing charges, is scheduled to be tried separately next year. Holmes testified last week that Balwani, who has pleaded not guilty, prepared financial projections that were shared with investors.