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Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is coming to a fraud trial at the Federal Court in San Jose, California, on December 17, 2021.
Peter DaSilva Reuters
SAN JOSE, California – 12 jurors to decide the fate of founder Theranos Elizabeth Holmes they remain to examine the testimonies of 31 witnesses within three months of starting their consultation.
The case was handed over to a jury around 4.40pm Pacific time on Friday after Judge Edward Davila read the instructions. Holmes, who set up her own blood test firm in 2003 and abandoned Stanford to build it, is charged with nine charges of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison. She said it was not her fault.
Kevin Downey, Holmes’ lawyer, last spoke on Friday, arguing that his party should be acquitted of all charges.
“At the first sign of trouble, fraudsters pay out money, criminals hide and rats escape from a sinking ship,” Downey said. “She didn’t do any of that.”
Downey said Holmes, now 37, has dedicated her life to building Theranos and never intended to cheat investors. He reminded the jurors that Holmes had dropped out of college, left youth and lost friendships because she “believed she had built technology that could change the world.”
He pointed out that Holmes ’fortune was wrapped up in Theranos’ success and that she never sold any of her shares.
“She fell with that ship when she fell,” Downey said. “Ladies and gentlemen, such is this woman.”
Downey spent more than three hours trying to break the government case. He said Holmes did not intentionally misrepresent the company’s financial data in order to attract investors ’money.
Rupert Murdoch leaves the News Corporation building with his son Lachlan Murdoch (R) on July 21, 2016 in New York City.
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Over the decade, Theranos has raised $ 945 million from reputable investors, including News Corp. Rupert Murdoch, Don Lucas and family Betsy DeVos, former Secretary of Education. Some of these investors testified as government witnesses.
“People have lost money. I’m not worried about that,” Downey said. “Mrs Holmes certainly did not intend for people to lose money. This is a bad event and a failure on her part.”
The investors were sophisticated people who “knew it was a new venture, they knew it was speculative, and they knew it was a risk,” Downey said.
Holmes sat among her lawyers in a San Jose courtroom on Friday. She was accompanied by her parents and her partner Billy Evans.
‘Second choice’
After the defense concluded its closing argument, the prosecution returned with its refusal, recalling Holmes and the level of control it exercised over all aspects of its business.
“The disease that affected Theranos was not a lack of effort, but a lack of honesty,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General John Bostic. “It wasn’t on the ground, it was on top.”
Theranos should not be confused with a company that failed despite hard work, Bostic said.
“We admire people who set ambitious goals and strive to achieve them,” Bostic said. “This case went badly for Theranos and Ms. Holmes when she decided on another, when she refused to accept failure and instead decided to break the law.”
In order for Holmes to be found guilty, the jury must no doubt unanimously decide that he was an entrepreneur who was once the youngest billionaire to make herself, intended to defraud investors and patients.
Danny Cevallos, a legal analyst at NBC News, said the jury must consider a mountain of evidence, given the number of witnesses who appeared and the collection of documents presented.
“With so much evidence and so many messages to convey, the jury has to do a lot of evidence if it wants to,” Cevallos said. “On the other hand, they can go back to the jury room and when the door closes, they can look at each other and say, ‘None of us believe a word she said.'”
In the defense’s closing statement, any omission of Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, Holmes’ former business partner and ex-boyfriend, was an obvious omission. Balwani was a central part of Holmes ’testimony. She was upset when she told the jury that Balwani was physically and emotionally abusing her. She said he had control over her and was responsible for overseeing Theranos Laboratory and finance.
Balwani faces the same charges as Holmes, and the trial is set to begin early next year. He also pleaded not guilty.
Downey did not utter Balwani’s name on Friday.
“I could hurt her,” Cevallos said. “I think the jurors in the jury room and each other will ask, ‘Why didn’t they mention all this trauma from Balwani at the conclusion, if it was so important to them?'”
In his rejection, Bostic decided to return to the subject. The jury said that although testimony about the abuse was difficult to hear, it should not have influenced their decision.
“In the absence of any evidence linking this experience to the accused’s conduct, we should forget this,” Bostic said. “Mrs Holmes did not need Mr Balwani’s encouragement to be misleading.”
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