Elizabeth Holmes trial - live: Former Theranos employees expected to take the stand as founder accused of ‘lying and cheating’
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Your support makes all the difference.The trial of Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes continues on Tuesday as prosecutors representing the US government will attempt to prove to the jury that it was the intent of Ms Holmes to mislead investors, patients, and doctors about what her blood-testing technology was capable of in order to get ahold of their money.
During the opening statement for the US government, a federal prosecutor said that Ms Holmes “decided to lie” because she was “out of time and out of money”.
“This is a case about fraud, about lying and cheating to get money,” Prosecutor Robert Leach said. He added that in 2009, Theranos was short on cash as it got less and less work, and the company could barely pay its employees.
Lance Wade, a defence lawyer for Ms Holmes, told the court: “Elizabeth Holmes did not go to work every day to lie, cheat and steal. The government would have you believe that her company, that her entire life, is a fraud. That is wrong. That is not true.”
Ms Holmes, 37, who has pleaded not guilty, founded her company in 2003 at the age of 19 after dropping out of Stanford. The goal of Theranos was to radically change how blood testing is done. She now faces up to 20 years in prison if she is found guilty of the charges.
Court documents have revealed that the defence team may argue that another Theranos executive, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, 56, who is also Ms Holmes’ ex-boyfriend, emotionally, sexually, and physically abused Ms Holmes. That meant that he was in control, not her, the defence may argue. Mr Balwani, who served as the president and chief operating officer after joining Theranos in 2009, is facing his own trial early next year and has forcefully rejected the claims of abuse. He has also pleaded not guilty.
Theranos was at one point valued at $9bn as the company promised that their technology could test for diseases like cancer and diabetes by just taking a few drops of blood with a finger stick. Ms Holmes partnered up with retail giants such as Walgreens and Safeway and could be seen on the covers of magazines where she was described as the richest self-made woman.
But a 2015 Wall Street Journal investigation into the company was the beginning of the end for Theranos, which was dissolved in 2018. The trial of Ms Holmes, which has been delayed several times by the pandemic and her pregnancy, is expected to take around 13 weeks.
Welcome to The Independent’s liveblog of the trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes
Theranos: Elizabeth Holmes living on grounds of $135m Silicon Valley estate during trial, report says
Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is reportedly living on the grounds of a $135m estate in Silicon Valley as she stands trial for criminal fraud.
CNBC reports that Ms Holmes and her partner, William Evans, are staying in a home on the 74-acre property in the town of Woodside, one of the wealthiest locales in Silicon Valley.
Green Gables is one of the most expensive estates in the US and is currently listed for sale as “an architectural masterpiece in nature’s finest setting”.
There are several homes on the property as well as four pools — including a stadium-sized Roman-style pool — a tennis court, stunning landscaping, flower and vegetable gardens, and a private reservoir.
Built in 1911 by San Francisco banker Mortimer Fleishhacker as a summer home for his family, the estate has been passed on through the generations.
The main house is a 10,000 square foot, nine-bedroom arts-and-crafts-style mansion. Six other homes on the estate are more modest, and Ms Holmes is staying on one of those, a court clerk confirmed to CNBC.
Other nearby residents include Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle; Charles Schwab; Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel; and venture capitalist John Doerr.
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Elizabeth Holmes living on grounds of $135m Silicon Valley estate during trial
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Elizabeth Holmes' trial to dissect downfall of a tech star
Just six years ago, Elizabeth Holmes seemed destined to fulfill her dream of becoming Silicon Valley s next superstar. She was the subject of business magazine cover stories describing her as the youngest self-made female billionaire in history, former President Bill Clinton was reverently quizzing her about her thoughts on technology, and then-Vice President Joe Biden was hailing her ideas as an inspiration.
Now Holmes is about to head into a San Jose, California, courtroom to defend herself against criminal allegations depicting her as the devious mastermind of a fraud that duped wealthy investors, former U.S. government officials and patients whose lives were endangered by a blood-testing technology that never came close to fulfilling her bold promises.
If convicted by a jury in a trial that begins Wednesday, Holmes could be sentenced to 20 years in prison — a stunning reversal of fortune for an entrepreneur whose wealth once was pegged at $4.5 billion. That amount represented her 50% stake in Theranos a Palo Alto, California, biotech startup she founded in 2003 after dropping out of Stanford University at the age of 19.
Besides rehashing Holmes’ stunning rise and fall, the three-month trial may also shine a light on how style sometimes overshadows substance in Silicon Valley, which prides itself on an ethos of logic, data and science over emotion.
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Elizabeth Holmes' trial to dissect downfall of a tech star
Elizabeth Holmes once seemed destined to fulfill her dream of becoming Silicon Valley's next superstar
Members of the media line up to enter courthouse for opening statements
Elizabeth Holmes trial: Everything you need to know about the Theranos founder
Elizabeth Holmes will go on trial today facing multiple charges of conspiracy and fraud for her lead role in the Theranos scandal.
As the founder and former chief executive officer of the disgraced blood-testing start-up that wowed the tech investment world before collapsing in a storm over the efficacy of the technology supposedly at its core, Ms Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Theranos was at one point valued at approximately $9bn, but is now a byword for corporate misconduct, with Ms Holmes accused of lying to patients about testing, and investors about projected revenues.
The trial will get underway in federal court in San Jose, California, after a string of delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the defendant’s surprise pregnancy.
Anticipated to last approximately three months, the final chapter in the spectacular rise and fall of Ms Holmes is expected to see defence lawyers get creative when faced with a strong case from the prosecution. It is the most-anticipated trial of the year.
So how did Ms Holmes get into this position?
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What are the charges?
Theranos was dissolved in 2018 and Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani were indicted that same year on charges of defrauding investors, getting them to invest millions of dollars in the company, as well as misleading hundreds of doctors and patients. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Ms Holmes has been charged with 12 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
She stands accused of knowing that her company’s tests were unreliable and hurting patients who trusted the technology. She’s also accused of exaggerating the deals her company was making as well as its performance.
Who are the jurors?
The jury was selected over the course of last week out of a group of 200 people.
Seven men and five women, who all live in Northern California, have been selected to serve on the jury during the trial at the courthouse in San Jose south of San Francisco. Five alternates have also been chosen.
The main challenge in the jury selection process was to find jurors who could enter the courtroom without preconceived notions about Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes to avoid a biased jury.
Holmes and Balwani were indicted together but will be tried separately
Elizabeth Holmes and former Theranos President and COO Sunny Balwani were indicted together but a judge last year agreed to grant them separate trials.
Legal experts have noted that separate trials allow the pair to blame each other without the other being able to respond.
In court filings unsealed in August, Ms Holmes alleges that her relationship with Mr Balwani was marred by a “pattern of abuse and coercive control”.
Mr Balwani has denied all allegations of abuse.
Ms Holmes’ defence team could make the case that she was just the public leader of the company and was unaware of its technical shortcomings, putting the blame on Mr Balwani and others.
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