Elizabeth Holmes' dramatic trial set for final face-off

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The trial of fallen Silicon Valley star Elizabeth Holmes moves into its final phase Thursday when federal prosecutors and defense attorneys will present their final arguments to the jury that will determine her fate.

Holmes' criminal fraud trial has featured three months of often dramatic testimony and other evidence surrounding her 15-year reign as CEO of Theranos, a blood-testing startup she founded after dropping out of Stanford University when she was just 19.

Summations of the respective cases are expected to spill into Friday. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila will then hand off the case to a jury consisting of 10 men and four women, including two alternates. Deliberations are scheduled to continue through the holiday season if necessary.

Holmes, now 37, leveraged Theranos to woo billionaire investors while assembling a board of directors that included former U.S. Cabinet members spanning from the Nixon to Trump administrations while promising to revolutionize health care with a more humane, convenient and cheaper way to test blood.

Instead of relying on vials of blood drawn from veins, Theranos touted a technology that Holmes said would be able to scan for hundreds of diseases and other potential problems with a few drops of blood taken via a finger prick.

It was such a compelling concept that Theranos raised more than $900 million, struck partnerships with major retailers Walgreens and Safeway and turned Elizabeth Holmes into a Silicon Valley sensation with an estimated fortune of $4.5 billion.

But unknown to most people outside Theranos, the company's blood-testing technology was flawed, often producing inaccurate results that could have endangered the lives of patients who took the tests at Walgreens stores.

The problems, exposed in...