Blood-testing startup Theranos said to be closing

NEW YORK (AP) " The once-heralded blood-testing startup Theranos is shutting down, according to a media report.

Theranos was unable to sell itself and is now looking to pay unsecured creditors its remaining cash of about $5 million in the upcoming months, according to an email The Wall Street Journal obtained that CEO David Taylor sent to shareholders.

The announcement comes nearly three months after Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes and Chief Operating Officer Ramesh Balwani were charged with criminal fraud. Holmes, once considered a wunderkind in Silicon Valley, had pitched Theranos' technology as a cheaper way to run dozens of blood tests. Prosecutors allege Holmes and Balwani deliberately misled investors, policymakers and the public about the accuracy of Theranos' blood-testing technologies going back to at least 2013.

Theranos laid off most of its staff earlier this year.