Theranos Founder Can Lean on Silicon Valley Swagger in Defense

The lofty ambitions and hyperbole of Silicon Valley startups and their founders is fair game for Elizabeth Holmes to use at her pending criminal trial, a judge ruled.

For the first time since the pandemic shut down in-person hearings, the former Theranos chief executive and her lawyers appeared Tuesday before a federal judge in San Jose, California, to argue about what evidence should be permitted and excluded from her trial, which is scheduled to start in August. The public and members of the press weren’t permitted in court, but could listen in by phone.

Exaggeration -- and bluster -- about ...