The verdict marked the conclusion of a lengthy drama when Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the now-defunct blood-testing startup Theranos, was found guilty of fraud in January.
But as Holmes awaited her sentencing in the following months, the drama surrounding her case only intensified.
Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani, the former COO of Theranos, who was a co-conspirator with Holmes, was found guilty of fraud in July. Then, Holmes filed a flurry of motions for a new trial based on fresh evidence, requesting that the judge reverse her conviction due to a lack of evidence.
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She appears to be visibly pregnant with her second child at recent court hearings related to the lawsuit. Additionally, a crucial witness visited her home in August, which is incredibly unusual in a criminal case.
The encounter served as the impetus for Holmes’ most recent effort to change her conditions. The 38-year-old, together with her parents, partner, attorneys, and a swarm of media members, gathered on Monday in a federal courthouse in San Jose, California, for a hearing that would allow her to seek a new trial. Holmes’ attorneys claimed that the key witness’s visit cast doubt on both his reliability and the fairness of the trial.
The decision seems unlikely, according to experts.
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Because of the witness’s visit to Elizabeth Holmes’ home, Amanda Kramer, a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling and a former federal prosecutor, predicted that the court would grant Holmes a new trial. In order to stop Holmes from utilising the incident in her unavoidable appeal, the judge most likely granted the hearing, Kramer added.
However, there was very little typical about Holmes’ situation, which came to represent the dangers of Silicon Valley’s hype-driven start-up ecosystem. In regards to the case or whether they are expecting, Holmes and her partner Billy Evans choose not to comment.
A visit on August 8 by Dr. Adam Rosendorff, who was instrumental in Theranos’ growth as its lab director, is a question. Later on, he turned into a whistleblower who assisted in exposing the company’s deception. Theranos misled customers and investors by claiming that its ground-breaking technology could accurately do thousands of blood tests with just a single drop of blood.
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Rosendorff bore the brunt of six brutal days of testimony, the longest of any witness, during Holmes’ trial last year, in which she was charged with almost a dozen charges of deceiving investors and patients. Jurors later stated that they thought his testimony was among the most reliable during the trial.
Then, in August, Rosendorff went to Theranos’s former workplace in Palo Alto, California, as well as the company’s first Walgreens location. Both were gone, he discovered.
His attorneys claimed in a document that as a result, he “suddenly felt that a conversation with the defendant was the missing piece” to going on with his life. Rosendorff took a car to Holmes’ home in the nearby town of Woodside, California. When Evans responded, he was asked to leave.
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Thereafter, the accounts diverge. According to Holmes’ camp, Rosendorff admitted culpability for his part in the incident and claimed that the government’s prosecutors “made things sound worse than they were.” Holmes claimed that the incident threw into question both Rosendorff’s testimony and the entirety of the government’s case, so she was entitled to a fresh trial.
Rosendorff went back to the witness stand on Monday. Judge Edward Davila, who presided over Holmes’ trial, questioned whether Rosendorff’s testimony was accurate and whether the prosecution had accurately presented the evidence. He provided positive testimony.
Then Holmes’ attorney, Lance Wade, interrogated him. Rosendorff wanted to see Holmes for what reason? Was Rosendorff’s testimony affected by a mental breakdown? Was the administration attempting to cast the blame on everyone? Rosendorff asked whether he might aid Holmes.
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In response, Rosendorff claimed that Holmes’s attorneys were attempting to portray him as a liar. He claimed that while the Theranos employees who were impacted by the incident felt pity, Holmes and her accomplice Ramesh Balwani did not. He also expressed regret that, in the event that Holmes was imprisoned, her children would be raised without a mother.
Holmes was found guilty on four charges of fraud, each of which entailed a potential 20-year jail sentence.
In his testimony, Rosendorff stated that the quest for recovery led to his meeting with Holmes.
Rosendorff claimed, “I don’t want to help Ms. Holmes. She’s not somebody who can be helped. At this point she needs to help herself. She needs to pay her debt to society.”
Throughout Rosendorff’s evidence, Holmes merely stared at him while occasionally taking notes. She smiled at the media as she walked away arm in arm with Evans but made no comment in response.
Rosendorff escaped from a group of news cameras outside the courtroom. Rosendorff’s attorney declined to comment.
Judge Davila declared that he had received responses to his inquiries into the incident. In the upcoming weeks, he will determine whether Holmes merits a new trial.
On November 18, Holmes is due to receive his punishment. She will likely make an appeal.
On November 15, Balwani, who was found guilty of twelve charges of fraud against Theranos, will get his penalty. He attempted to use Rosendorff’s visit to Holmes as justification for his own retrial. The request was rejected.
