Blood-Testing Firm Theranos to Formally Dissolve, WSJ Reports

(Bloomberg) -- Theranos Inc., the Silicon Valley blood testing company accused of defrauding investors, will formally dissolve, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The company will seek to pay unsecured creditors its remaining cash in coming months, the Journal said, citing a shareholder email. The move comes after founder Elizabeth Holmes settled a shareholder lawsuit in July aimed at recovering whatever can be salvaged from the fallen blood testing startup.

Holmes, who reigned briefly as the world’s youngest female self-made billionaire over her promise to revolutionize blood testing, was criminally charged in June with defrauding investors along with the Palo Alto, California-based company’s former president, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. Both executives have denied the charges, according to the Journal.

The indictment by the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco alleging wire fraud follows claims by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Theranos, Holmes and Balwani lied about its technology while raising more than $700 million to build the medical-testing startup.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Sutherland in Tokyo at jsutherlan13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: K. Oanh Ha at oha3@bloomberg.net

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