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Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and former CEO of blood testing and life sciences company Theranos, arrives for the first day of jury selection in her fraud trial, outside Federal Court in San Jose, California on August 31, 2021.
Nick Otto | AFP | Getty Images

Theranos isn’t exactly a household word, but many of the potential jurors questioned on Tuesday had heard of the company or its former CEO, Elizabeth Holmes on the first day of her criminal fraud case.

Nearly potential 40 jurors were questioned over seven hours, and 14 were dismissed. One said, “I don’t have bias, except for I remember the defendant’s penchant for turtlenecks.”

Another juror, who acknowledged he had watched a “60 Minutes” documentary on Theranos, said, “I’m just glad I didn’t invest in it.”

Holmes, who appeared solemn, wore a black dress and jacket with a blue mask. She attempted to make eye contact with each potential juror as they walked into the courtroom.

Elizabeth Holmes in court
Source: Vicki Behringer

One potential juror, who said she had read John Carreyrou’s book about the Theranos scandal, “Bad Blood”, works at a healthcare-related company. She admitted to the judge “there was some amount of disappointment” after she read the book.

“There’s not that many women that get to become CEOs of a high-powered company,” she said.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are trying to find a dozen impartial jurors and five alternates to sit for what’s expected to be a 13-week long trial. Holmes and Sunny Balwani, her former business partner and for a time her boyfriend, each face 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy. Both have pleaded not guilty. Balwani will be tried separately.

Several potential jurors said they had read books, watched documentaries, or heard TED talks and podcasts on the topic. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila suggested that potential jurors turn off news alerts to avoid further media exposure.

One potential juror revealed he’s a news producer at a radio station which he said has featured stories on the high-profile case.

“I’ve been avoiding the topic at work but in anticipation of jury selection they’ve been running stories,” he said. “I’m not really sure how I can remain unbiased through the rest of the trial.”

“I look at my computer and all I see is: Theranos, Theranos, Theranos,” he added.

Davila joked, “I’m not going to ask you to quit your job, sir,” and later asked him, “Would it break your heart severely if I excused you from this jury?”

The judge also asked potential jurors about whether they or someone they knew had experienced intimate partner violence. Five potential jurors raised their hands. Bombshell court documents unsealed on Saturday reveal Holmes, 37, plans to claim Balwani, 56, psychologically, emotionally and sexually abused her. In the unsealed filings, Balwani unequivocally denies the allegations.

“The hardest thing for prosecutors to prove here is going to be intent so the more sympathetic and the more emotionally malleable potential jurors reveal themselves to be, the more the defense will want them and the prosecution will want to get rid of them,” James McGarity, jury consultant and partner at R&D Strategic Solutions said. “She really needs the sympathetic folks.”

Another potential juror told defense attorneys that he had left a negative comment on Facebook when Theranos shut down. “I followed the company because I was interested in it,” he recalled. “I was disappointed because I thought the company was so cool,” he said. “It was disappointing.”

Jury selection is expected to last two days with opening statements scheduled to begin Sept. 8.

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Trump approves TikTok deal through executive order, Vance says business valued at $14 billion

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Trump approves TikTok deal through executive order, Vance says business valued at  billion

Muhammed Selim Korkutata | Anadolu | Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order approving a proposal that would keep TikTok alive in the U.S. in a transaction that Vice President JD Vance said values the business at $14 billion.

The deal satisfies the requirements of a national security law requiring China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations or face an effective ban in the country, according to the executive order. Under the terms, which China must still approve, a new joint-venture company will oversee TikTok’s U.S. business, with ByteDance retaining less than a 20% stake.

Enterprise tech giant Oracle, Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi-based MGX investment fund will be main investors in TikTok’s U.S. business, controlling a roughly 45% stake in the entity, while ByteDance investors and new holders will own 35%, CNBC’s David Faber reported earlier Thursday. 

No representatives from ByteDance were present at the signing, and the company hasn’t acknowledged that a transaction is taking place. No purchase price was mentioned, and there’s no indication that the Chinese government has made changes to laws that would be necessary for a deal to take place.

President Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the deal the go ahead. Vance said the Chinese government put up some resistance before the agreement.

Under the planned arrangement, Oracle will oversee the app’s security operations and continue providing cloud computing services for the new TikTok U.S. firm, Faber reported, citing sources familiar with the deal. Trump said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is involved in the ownership group and that his company is “playing a very big part.”

“It’s owned by Americans, and very sophisticated Americans,” Trump said at the signing. “This is going to be American operated all the way.”

ByteDance investors like General Atlantic, Susquehanna and Sequoia, are expected to contribute equity in the new TikTok U.S. entity, sources told Faber. ByteDance was reportedly valued at $330 billion last month. Analysts have previously estimated TikTok’s U.S. operations could be worth between $30 billion to $35 billion.

The deal does not involve the federal government taking an equity stake or a so-called golden share in TikTok’s U.S. operations, CNBC reported Monday.

Trump said over the weekend that conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch could be involved in the TikTok deal as well as Ellison and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell.

The president last week signed an executive order that extended ByteDance’s deadline to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or be subject to a national security law originally signed by former President Joe Biden. The order prevents the Department of Justice from enforcing the national security law that would penalize app store operators like Apple and Google and internet service providers for providing services to TikTok’s U.S. operations.

WATCH: White House Press Secretary says Trump will sign TikTok deal.

White House Press Secretary says Trump will sign TikTok deal Thursday

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Oracle, Silver Lake & MGX will be main investors in TikTok U.S., sources say

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Oracle, Silver Lake & MGX will be main investors in TikTok U.S., sources say

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Oracle, Silver Lake & Abu Dhabi’s MGX will be main investors in TikTok’s U.S. business, sources told CNBC’s David Faber on Thursday. 

Those three entities will control roughly 45% of TikTok USA, Faber reported. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent, will own 19.9%, with the remaining 35% in the hands of ByteDance investors.

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday backing the proposed deal that will keep the social media app running in the U.S. ByteDance has faced an ultimatum under a federal law requiring it to either divest the platform’s American business or be shut down in the U.S. That law passed with bipartisan support from members of Congress who expressed national security concerns about the app and its potent content algorithm.

Trump has been trying to keep the app afloat, repeatedly mentioning how important it was to his victory in November. Billionaire Republican megadonor Jeff Yass is a major ByteDance investor through Susquehanna, and he also owns a stake in the owner of Truth Social, Trump’s social media company.

Backers of ByteDance, including General Atlantic, Susquehanna and Sequoia, are expected to contribute equity in the new TikTok USA, sources told Faber.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order delaying the divestiture deadline until Dec. 16.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

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Microsoft cuts off cloud services to Israeli military unit after report of storing Palestinians’ phone calls

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Microsoft cuts off cloud services to Israeli military unit after report of storing Palestinians' phone calls

Microsoft President Brad Smith, left, speaks at a press conference on future visions for the development and application of artificial intelligence in education in North Rhine-Westphalia at the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in Berlin on June 4, 2025. To his right is Hendrik Wüst (CDU), Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, in front of the sign “From coal to AI.”

Soeren Stache | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Microsoft said Thursday that it has stopped providing certain services to a division of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The company did not say which specific services it had stopped providing.

The decision comes after the software company investigated an August report from The Guardian saying the Israeli Defense Forces’ Unit 8200 had built a system for tracking Palestinians’ phone calls.

“While our review is ongoing, we have found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian’s reporting,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and vice chair, wrote in an email to employees. “This evidence includes information relating to IMOD consumption of Azure storage capacity in the Netherlands and the use of AI services.”

Microsoft’s decision to stop providing those services follows pressure from employees who have protested Israel’s use of the company’s software as part of its invasion of Gaza. Over the last few weeks, Microsoft has fired five employees who participated in protests at company headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

The move comes a week after a United Nations commission said that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians with its invasion of Gaza.

Microsoft told Israeli defense officials that it had decided to disable cloud-based storage an artificial intelligence subscriptions the agency was using, Smith wrote. He said Microsoft does not look at customer data for the type of review it conducted, and he thanked the British newspaper for its reporting on the development.

“As employees, we all have a shared interest in privacy protection, given the business value it creates by ensuring our customers can rely on our services with rock solid trust,” Smith wrote.

On Thursday The Guardian reported that unnamed intelligence sources had said Unit 8200 was planning to migrate its supply of the phone calls to Amazon Web Services, the market-leading public cloud. AWS did not immediately comment.

WATCH: Israel’s global standing is ‘desperately at risk because of the suffering of Palestinian civilians,’ says Sen. Chris Coons

Israel's global standing is 'desperately at risk because of the suffering of Palestinian civilians,' says Sen. Chris Coons

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