Defense attorneys for Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes have asked a federal judge in San Jose to dismiss the criminal indictment against her and the company's former COO and president Ramesh Balwani, claiming that prosecutors have failed to allege any single fraudulent statement or misrepresentation made about the now-defunct blood-testing company.

"Ms. Holmes cannot prepare her defense without knowing what statements by whom, to whom, and about what the government claims were fraudulent," wrote Holmes' lawyers at Williams & Connolly in court papers filed Monday. "And neither the defense nor the court can be confident that the grand jury passed upon whatever statements the government ultimately attempts to offer at trial when the Indictment does not indicate what those statements are," they wrote.

Balwani's lawyers at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe filed court papers of their own Monday indicating that their client was joining Holmes' three separate motions to dismiss portions of the superseding indictment in the case. In lieu of dismissal, the defendants have asked U.S. District Judge Edward Davila of the Northern District of California, who is overseeing the case set for trial next summer, to force the government to provide more detailed information about how it intends to show that Holmes and Balwani misled investors and customers about the company's blood-testing capacities, its partnership with the Walgreens pharmacy chain, or any need Theranos might have for regulatory approval.

The pair were initially indicted in July 2018 on two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud based on claims they knew that Theranos' blood analyzer could not deliver on the public promises they were making to provide "fast, inexpensive, accurate, and reliable" tests.

Kevin Downey of Williams & Connolly didn't immediately respond to messages Tuesday. Holmes is also represented by criminal defense lawyer John Cline in San Francisco. Jeffrey Coopersmith, Balwani's lead lawyer who moved to Orrick from Davis Wright Tremaine this fall, said in an email that he had no comment beyond the court filings. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of California which is prosecuting the case didn't respond to a message Tuesday.

Holmes's lawyers contend that prosecutors have failed to allege that their client had the "specific intent" required to maintain a wire fraud conviction. In particular, they argued that the indictment does not allege that any single Theranos patient received an inaccurate test result "nor does it identify a single misrepresentation or omission that affected the bargain struck between Theranos and its customers as alleged in the Indictment—the provision of fast, inexpensive, accurate, and reliable blood tests."

"It is utterly unclear how the parties and the Court will try this case based on the indictment," Holmes' lawyers wrote.

The flurry of motions from Holmes' criminal lawyers come as the lawyers at Cooley were allowed this month to bow out of defending her from civil claims pending in Arizona federal court. Cooley asked to withdraw from the Arizona case where Holmes, the company and Walgreens face claims of fraud and medical battery. The Cooley lawyers wrote this fall that the firm hadn't been paid in more than a year and had "no expectation that Ms. Holmes will ever pay it for its services as her counsel."

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