Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes returns to the stand in fraud trial

Elizabeth Holmes faces nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes will return to the stand on Monday at her criminal fraud trial in a California federal court.

Holmes, who is accused of defrauding investors out of millions as she raised money for her blood-testing start-up, is expected to testify on Monday and Tuesday on direct examination, her attorney Kevin Downey said -- meaning prosecutors likely won't have their shot at questioning her until after the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Holmes' defense team surprised a packed courtroom on Friday, when they called their client to testify just hours after prosecutors rested their case, eliciting exclamations from the audience as they craned their necks to get a better look at the former Theranos CEO.

A maskless Holmes, who had once graced the covers of magazines and had been hailed by some as the next Steve Jobs, smiled as she told the jury about the origins of her company -- the brainchild of the Stanford dropout who had vowed her blood-testing technology would shape the future of health care.