and criminal proceedings In March 2018 the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges against Theranos, its CEO Elizabeth Holmes and former president Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, claiming they had engaged in an "elaborate, years-long fraud" wherein they "deceived investors into believing that its key product – a portable blood analyzer – could conduct comprehensive blood tests from finger drops of blood". Holmes reached a settlement with the SEC which required her to pay $500,000, forfeit 19 million shares of company stock, and be barred from having a leadership position in any public company for ten years. Balwani did not settle with the SEC. On June 15, 2018, Holmes and Balwani were indicted on multiple counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to the indictment, investors, doctors and patients were defrauded. It is alleged the defendants were aware of the unreliability and inaccuracy of their products, but concealed that information. If convicted, they each face a maximum fine of $250,000 and 20 years in prison. The case, United States v. Elizabeth A. Holmes, et al., has been assigned to Lucy H. Koh, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The jury selection for the trial was to begin on July 28, 2020, and the trial was to have commenced in August 2020; however, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a proposed October date, before the trial for Holmes was rescheduled to begin on August 31, 2021, with Balwani's trial pushed back further to 2022. In February 2021 federal prosecutors accused Holmes and other executives of destroying evidence in Theranos's final days in business. The specific evidence in question is the history of internal testing, including accuracy and failure rates of Theranos's blood-testing systems. On January 3, 2022, Holmes was found guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was sentenced in November 2022 to 11 years and 3 months in prison. Balwani's trial began in March 2022 and he was convicted of 12 counts of fraud in July 2022. In December he was sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison and 3 years of probation. Shutdown On September 4, 2018, Theranos announced in an email to investors that it would cease operations and release its assets and remaining cash to creditors after all efforts to find