There will be blood: The jaw-dropping story of Elizabeth Holmes reaches its endgame

The founder of Theranos, the discredited blood-testing firm, is now on trial for fraud in California

Elizabeth Holmes, pictured for Forbes magazine, while her firm Theranos was still riding high. Picture: Ethan Pines/Forbes Collection/Getty Images

A very different Elizabeth Holmes turned up to the federal court in San Jose, California, last week. This Elizabeth Holmes was not the same woman who had graced the covers of so many business and technology magazines during Theranos’s heyday, revelling in the tributes and plaudits.

In those days, Holmes had cultivated a stark appearance, with dark turtleneck sweaters, various utilitarian hair styles – sometimes pulled tight, sometimes in a messy bun – and a ...