Elizabeth Holmes walks out of federal court in San Jose, California, on Monday. Holmes is accused of tricking elite financial advocates, customers and patients into believing her startup was about to revolutionize medicine.
Nic Coury / AP
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Nic Coury / AP
Elizabeth Holmes walks out of federal court in San Jose, California, on Monday. Holmes is accused of tricking elite financial advocates, customers and patients into believing her startup was about to revolutionize medicine.
Nic Coury / AP
Elizabeth Holmes told a jury during her criminal fraud trial on Tuesday that she had handwritten letterheads from pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Schering-Plough in documents sent to her. potential business partners and investors without the consent of the companies.
It was the most damning admission Holmes had sworn in three days of testifying in his own defense. The former CEO of blood-testing company Theranos is trying to convince a jury that she is innocent of 11 counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Prosecutors said Holmes falsified multiple reports to give the impression that pharmaceutical companies were endorsing Theranos devices, when in fact they were far ahead of the startup.
Holmes said she wasn’t trying to mislead anyone, but was just trying to acknowledge the other work Theranos has done with pharmaceutical companies.
However, that was a mistake, she said.
“I wish I had done it differently,” said Holmes, speaking from behind the glass-encased witness box in a calm and confident tone.
Over the years, Holmes claims Theranos has developed groundbreaking blood-testing technology that allows people to take more control of their health by allowing them to check for hundreds of conditions with a tiny smear of blood with their finger.
In 2014, the company was estimated to be worth $9 billion, more than Uber and Spotify were worth at the time.
But soon, regulators and the media began to ask probing questions about the technology’s effectiveness, causing the company to begin to crumble.
In 2017, federal prosecutors indicted Holmes and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, number 2 at the company.
To date, most of Holmes’ testimony has involved misdirection, pointing to the expertise of Theranos’s board of directors, laboratory staff, and other company employees that Holmes suggested had Understand how a blood analyzer works. That makes Holmes’ admission that she placed misleading letterheads on Theranos’ documents remarkable.
“This work was done in partnership with those companies, and I’m trying to convey that,” Holmes told the jury on Tuesday.
Holmes has yet to talk about the role of Balwani, who, in addition to being the former president of Theranos, is also Holmes’s ex-boyfriend.
Balwani has been charged with wire fraud and will face a separate trial in January. Holmes’ lawyers argued in legal documents before the trial begins that Balwani physically and emotionally abused Holmes, altering her state of mind during the alleged fraud. That controversial defensive strategy has yet to be considered by a jury.
Travel through time with tarot cards and Elizabeth Holmes memorabilia
Holmes’ much-anticipated testimony created a scene outside the often sleepy San Jose federal court.
Journalists, spectators and others eager to hear Holmes lined up in front of the courthouse as early as 2 a.m. this week to secure a seat inside the courtroom.
On Monday, a reporter Have you read the tarot card yet? while waiting for the start of the court.
A woman outside the courthouse on Tuesday appeared to be selling Holmes-themed items, including a black turtleneck and a blonde wig. (As CEO of Theranos, Holmes has know how to wear a black turtleneck, though she forgave them to participate in the trial.) When asked by court security to cease operations, the woman replied that the screens were just “performance art.”
Some spectators at Elizabeth Holmes’ trial brought Holmes-themed items to the courthouse for “sale”.
Bobby Allyn / NPR
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Bobby Allyn / NPR
It wasn’t the strangest thing that happened during Holmes’ trial.
During the selection process of the jury, a “relevant citizen” appeared to court with the aim of becoming a neutral observer. He told journalists his name was Hanson and that he was there to monitor how the media was reporting the incident. In fact, he was San Diego hotel magnate Bill Evans, father of Billy Evans, partner of Elizabeth Holmes.
From ‘Next Steve Jobs’ to Criminal Defendant
Since the trial began more than 11 weeks ago, prosecutors have called more than two dozen witnesses to bring forward the case that Holmes intentionally misled investors and patients about the capabilities of the blood test technology. by Theranos.
Witnesses include former Theranos employees, patients who received erroneous or false test results and the company’s former supporters, including former US Defense Secretary James Mattis. He told jurors that Holmes misled him into believing that Theranos was on the verge of developing tests that could help save lives on the battlefield.
“There’s a point where I don’t know what to believe about Theranos anymore,” Mattis told the jury in September.
Holmes has pleaded not guilty to all charges. If the jury convicts her, the judge could sentence Holmes to a lengthy period in federal prison.
The rise and fall of Holmes, once heralded as Silicon Valley’s next Steve Jobs, captured the nation’s imagination. Her journey from a wunderkind college dropout who developed a “health care iPod” to the disgraced defendant has been the subject of a best-selling book, a documentary film and podcasts.
Her strength and charisma made her a convincing saleswoman, raising more than $700 million for a company prosecutors say was destined to fail.
In the world of technology and beyond, Holmes’ case has renewed the debate about Silicon Valley’s “fake it until you make it” culture and whether she’s ever been. be treated more severely than other tech leaders because of her gender.
Holmes has steadfastly maintained her innocence, with her legal team essentially arguing that prosecutors attempted to turn a business into a federal crime.
But government lawyers countered that Holmes knew what she was doing. Prosecutors allege that Holmes knowingly deceived Theranos about the underlying technology and finances in order to pursue magazine covers and generate buzz and investment attention.
Holmes’ testimony will continue next week, when she is expected to face cross-examination from federal prosecutors.
