Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes guilty in fraud trial

FALLEN US biotech star Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on Monday of defrauding investors in her blood-testing startup Theranos, in a high-profile case seen as an indictment of Silicon Valley culture.

Holmes is a rare example of a tech exec being brought to book over a company flaming out, in a sector littered with the carcasses of money-losing companies that once promised untold riches.

Her case shone a spotlight on the blurred line between the hustle that characterises the industry and outright criminal dishonesty.

Jurors took seven days of deliberations to reach their verdict, finding her guilty of four counts of tricking investors into pouring money into what she claimed was a revolutionary testing system.

But the panel – who had listened to weeks of sometimes complex evidence – also acquitted her on four charges and could not reach a verdict on three others.

“The guilty verdicts in this case reflect