
federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud,
CNBC
after the SEC brought civil charges against her and Theranos in March of that year
Despite the device not being commercially ready, the company nonetheless decided to pursue retail clinical laboratory space, and used misleading product demonstrations to convince buyers of its efficacy. For example, it conducted some demonstrations on modified third-party devices while not telling potential buyers that these were not, in fact, the actual products it was developing. Theranos also instructed employees to place labs that could only be used for R&D testing in the same room as the clinical labs and then led pharmacy executives on a tour of that room without telling them of the difference between the machines. It also explicitly denied that there were any technological problems.
Holmes faces two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 10 counts of wire fraud. If convicted, the charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years. Balwani faces the same charges, but will be tried separately.