CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud

[Herat]

The penalties for in any way falsifying or misrepresenting PT testing results to CMS include closure of the laboratory, and loss of the Laboratory Director's license to be a director. Plus there can be stiff financial and possibly criminal charges if CMS determines there is Medicare fraud.

It can be career ending.

No wonder Rosendorff had a change of attitude.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
15m

We're back! Holmes says Theranos knew in 2015 that the company was scheduled for another 2-year CMS inspection, and Balwani told her that "the lab was in great shape, and the inspection should go well."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
13m

Holmes says the CMS inspection "had not gone as expected" and the cms inspectors received a number of issues. Right after, she says, the WSJ published a "very negative" article about Theranos and "continued articles were published that were attracting a lot of attention."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
11m

Holmes says Theranos responded by trying to protect its trade secrets, but she regrets their response. "Very much so." "I think we were too aggressive. I think we were so focused on trying to protect the trade secrets we lost sight of the big picture."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
9m

Holmes says the CMS inspectors found a lack of documentation and she was surprised and frustrated and "it was completely different" than what Balwani had told her. We're turning to Elizabeth Holmes' relationship with Sunny Balwani.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
9m

Holmes says she met Bawlani when she was 18 in China and he was 38 the summer before her freshman year at Stanford. She says he told her he worked helping Microsoft grow in its early years.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
9m

Elizabeth Holmes says when she was back at Stanford during her freshman year she was raped. "I wasn’t going to class and I was processing how I was going to process that experience and I decided I was going to build a life by building this company."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
8m

For the first time during this 38-day trial, Holmes is breaking down crying, recounting her experience at Stanford university. At the time, she says Balwani was emailing her and their relationship became romantic. "He told me I was safe," & he was going to protect her, she says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
5m

Holmes says she began dating Balwani from 2005 and dated him until 2015. He told her that she didn’t know what she was doing in businessn and that "He was astonished by my mediocrity" and "I needed to kill the person i was to become the ‘new Elizabeth’"

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
5m

Holmes says Sunny Balwani told her not to sleep very much, only eat foods "that were pure" and "have most energy for the company" and told her she should have "a very disciplined intense lifestyle." He wrote down notes for her, she says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4m

Holmes' counsel pulls up some of the handwritten notes by Sunny Balwani titled "Nonnegotiables (people)" "Every morning I will force myself out of bed and spend 30 minutes (never a minute less) to write what I want from my day..."

 

[Kittybunny]

Isn't anyone going to ask how many lab tests were run on the Siemens or other traditional laboratory analyzers and how many were ONLY run on the Edison thing?

Wouldn't it be fraud to claim all 8-12 million tests were ONLY run on the Edison?

Oh I'm sure prosecutors will on cross!

 

[Kittybunny]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
9m

Elizabeth Holmes says when she was back at Stanford during her freshman year she was raped. "I wasn’t going to class and I was processing how I was going to process that experience and I decided I was going to build a life by building this company."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
8m

For the first time during this 38-day trial, Holmes is breaking down crying, recounting her experience at Stanford university. At the time, she says Balwani was emailing her and their relationship became romantic. "He told me I was safe," & he was going to protect her, she says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
5m

Holmes says she began dating Balwani from 2005 and dated him until 2015. He told her that she didn’t know what she was doing in businessn and that "He was astonished by my mediocrity" and "I needed to kill the person i was to become the ‘new Elizabeth’"

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
5m

Holmes says Sunny Balwani told her not to sleep very much, only eat foods "that were pure" and "have most energy for the company" and told her she should have "a very disciplined intense lifestyle." He wrote down notes for her, she says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4m

Holmes' counsel pulls up some of the handwritten notes by Sunny Balwani titled "Nonnegotiables (people)" "Every morning I will force myself out of bed and spend 30 minutes (never a minute less) to write what I want from my day..."

Oh she is going to play that naïve innocent girl seduced by an evil Svengali card to the hilt! Oooh she's good! Hope the jury doesn't fall for it!

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2m

Balwani's notes go on "a good leader spend time" by never meeting with anyone for more than 5 minutes "unless I have written down why." "He was saying i was spending too much time" meeting with people individually, Holmes says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2m

Balwani's notes say "people who succeed don’t reflect on their success" and even if they don't have biz instinct," they can work to be better. “He was talking about me.. That even if I don't have natural instinct for biz i can overcome that, He would teach me," Holmes says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Balwani made a daily schedule for Elizabeth Holmes that started at 4 a.m. to "rise thank god, most things are not logical" and then "Wash face, change" At 6:20 she was set to pray for 10 mins. He also wrote out her meals which were "tofu, tabole & greens" & broccoli for dinner.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Sunny Balwani's daily schedule for Elizabeth Holmes also says: "do everything I say - word for word

I am never a minute late

I show no excitement (calm, direct, pointed, non-emotional)

I do not react

I am always proactive

I do not hesitate"

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Elizabeth Holmes says Sunny Balwani would yell at her and tell her he was "disappointed in my mediocrity and threaten me" and tell her she would never be successful.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Elizabeth Holmes on Sunny Balwani: "He would get very angry with me, and then he would sometimes come upstairs in our bedroom and he would force me to have sex with him when I didn’t want to because he wanted me to know that he still loved me."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Holmes' counsel pulls up text exchanges from Nov 30 2013 in which Balwani appears to be angry at Holmes. Holmes says that it was after Thanksgiving and she pauses, crying. "This was one of those nights he came upstairs and did things I didn’t want and hurt me."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

In Nov 2014 text, Holmes wrote Balwani:

My new life as of this night and forever more

-total confidence in myself best biz person of the year

-focus

Details excellent

Don't give what anyone thinks

Engage employees in meeting by stories and making it about them (ie prepare well)

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

After Balwani didn't respond, Holmes texted him "no response?"

Balwani eventually replied: Awesome U are listening and paying attention"

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Holmes says Balwani would criticize her over texts for how she was in meetings.

In April 2015, Balwani: You are speaking with everyone in your giddy voice - excessive use of ‘awesome '

Holmes: Thank you thank you Forever <3

Balwani: U r rambling now. Let’s stay focused

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

In may 2015, Sunny Balwani texted Holmes: "I have molded you."

Holmes: "Makes my heart sour to read that now I can be yours no question completely love"

She texted him in 2014: You know what these things coming from you mean to me. What you say to me equals my confidence

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
59m

In April 2015, Balwani berated Holmes b/c he thought the way she was running R&D was a disaster, she says, and she wrote notes to record what he was saying "so he could see that I was listening to him."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
56m

In her April 2015 notes, Holmes wrote that Balwani was telling her "Toughen up be more masculine" "I’m so sick and tired of this mediocrity you create, it’s astonishing you never hold anything responsible for actions" "I don’t want to work with you anymore" "command"

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
56m

Holmes notes of Balwani's comments go on .."I don’t enjoy being in a company that’s not going to win. I don’t have the faith. So angry at myself for coming. So angry spent 5 years of my life. Biggest failure of my life. Regret coming stayed because i love you."

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
53m

In Feb 2015, Holmes says Balwani forced her to have sex and after she took notes in her iPhone titeled "prayer" that said "Don’t enjoy literally anything about it or who I am if I did it Hurts so much. So so much. Can’t focus on anything except why? Why hurting myself?”

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
52m

On the stand, Elizabeth Holmes says "I was lying there swollen... I couldn't understand why I was hurting myself why I wasn’t leaving."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
52m

Holmes later texted Balwani in Feb 2014 "I‘m sorry I wasn’t stronger for you this morning. That is my responsibility and my role i will never let that happen again"

Balwani replied: I am strong enough for me and u and then some I don’t need u to be strong for me

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
51m

Holmes' text goes on: "My job is to love you when you when you’re stressed"

Balwani: "I know"

Holmes on the stand says "I thought my role was to calm him when he was angry and I wasn’t able to do that, I wasn’t able to take it."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
50m

Holmes says that she idolized Balwani as a biz expert but realized after the CMS inspection that "he wasn’t who I thought he was" and she realized she needed him out of the company if she was going to fix the issues.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
49m

In 2016, Holmes left Sunny Balwani, who she was living with, while he was in Thailand. She says her brother helped her move out of his house, and when she told him, he got mad and said he was going to fly back to the states.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
48m

Holmes' counsel asks her multiple q's about whether she thinks Sunny Balwani controlled her or forced her to say certain things to investors, Walgreens, Safeway and journalists. She says no, but she adds "he impacted everything about who I was and I don’t fully understand that."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
47m

Holmes says after Balwani was out of Theranos and she hired Kingshuk Das as lab director in 2016, she agreed with Das' recommendation to void all Theranos' tests because "we didn't know what to make of them."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
38m

Holmes said after Balwani was out, she hired new board members, new executives and changed its business strategy. In an abrupt shift in topic, Holmes' counsel has turned to Theranos Nov 2014 Herpes Simplex virus test FDA submission.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
14m

Holmes' counsel is flipping through various peer-review studies on Theranos' technology. There's been some objections over the documents, so testimony has slowed down a bit.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4m

Holmes says when Theranos started selling shares it was valued at $9 billion and she owned half of those shares. She says board members suggested she sell shares, but she never did. "I didn’t want to I believed in the company & I wanted to put everything I had into the company."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
47s

Holmes counsel Kevin Downey wrapped Holmes' direct examination, and the defense is passing Holmes to the prosecution to begin her cross-examination, but Judge Davila is breaking trial for the day, due to the "travel time" it'll take to move all the gov't's binders to the stand.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
7m

The jury was excused for the day and the judge retired to his chambers. Defense counsel Katherine Trefz just gave Elizabeth Holmes a hug - tbh I haven't seen an attorney do that to a client before.

 

[Herat]

This is like the Kitchen Sink defense.

Throw everything you can think of and pray something sticks.

I guess "the dog ate my Theranos homework should be her next excuse"

 

[Herat]

Holmes' defense is trying to bar the testimony of ex-lab director Dr. Kingshuk Das and the all-important and hugely critical Nov 2015 CMS survey of the laboratory.

"The findings by the CMS were grave enough that the regulator banned Holmes from running a lab company for two years. Theranos also had to retract or correct the results of tens of thousands of medical tests.

In his own review of Theranos data, Das “concluded the Edison devices did not perform well, and the accuracy and precision did not meet the level needed for clinical testing,” court records show. Das told the government that “even using a fairly low bar, none of the Edison tests passed an acceptable level,” and that CMS inspectors were “100% correct with their deficiency findings.” (Bloomsberg article, Aug 20 2021)

These issues are really quite central to the fraud issue.

Sure hope the judge will allow this information to be discussed by the prosecution.

It's very damming, IMHO

 

[Seattle1]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
49m

In 2016, Holmes left Sunny Balwani, who she was living with, while he was in Thailand. She says her brother helped her move out of his house, and when she told him, he got mad and said he was going to fly back to the states.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
48m

Holmes' counsel asks her multiple q's about whether she thinks Sunny Balwani controlled her or forced her to say certain things to investors, Walgreens, Safeway and journalists. She says no, but she adds "he impacted everything about who I was and I don’t fully understand that."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
47m

Holmes says after Balwani was out of Theranos and she hired Kingshuk Das as lab director in 2016, she agreed with Das' recommendation to void all Theranos' tests because "we didn't know what to make of them."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
38m

Holmes said after Balwani was out, she hired new board members, new executives and changed its business strategy. In an abrupt shift in topic, Holmes' counsel has turned to Theranos Nov 2014 Herpes Simplex virus test FDA submission.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
14m

Holmes' counsel is flipping through various peer-review studies on Theranos' technology. There's been some objections over the documents, so testimony has slowed down a bit.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4m

Holmes says when Theranos started selling shares it was valued at $9 billion and she owned half of those shares. She says board members suggested she sell shares, but she never did. "I didn’t want to I believed in the company & I wanted to put everything I had into the company."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
47s

Holmes counsel Kevin Downey wrapped Holmes' direct examination, and the defense is passing Holmes to the prosecution to begin her cross-examination, but Judge Davila is breaking trial for the day, due to the "travel time" it'll take to move all the gov't's binders to the stand.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
7m

The jury was excused for the day and the judge retired to his chambers. Defense counsel Katherine Trefz just gave Elizabeth Holmes a hug - tbh I haven't seen an attorney do that to a client before.

^^bbm

Reporter DA must not cover many criminal cases!

Colorado Defense Attorneys Eytan & Nielsen are famous for this. As was Menendez bros attorney Leslie Abramson.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
12m

After 38 days of trial, Elizabeth Holmes broke down for the first time and cried on the stand, recounting her relationship with Sunny Balwani who she claims abused her for a decade. Balwani's attorneys have not responded to a request for comment.

Law360 :: Newsroom :: Login

 

[Seattle1]

Yasmin Khorram
@YasminKhorram

In emotional and at times tearful testimony today, Elizabeth Holmes accused ex-boyfriend and top executive Sunny Balwani of a pattern of physical and psychological abuse, including forced sex. It was a side of Elizabeth Holmes we’ve never seen before.



cnbc.com
Elizabeth Holmes details abusive relationship with Theranos ex-president Balwani ahead of cross-e...
In her fourth and last day taking questions from her defense attorneys, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes accused Sunny Balwani of physical and emotional abuse.
4:34 PM · Nov 29, 2021

 

[Niner]

Tuesday, Nov. 30th:
*Trial continues (Day 35) (@ 10am PT) - CA – for *Elizabeth A. Holmes (34/now 37) (CEO of Theranos) charged (March, 2018) & indicted (6/14/18) & arraigned (6/15/18) with 9 counts of wire fraud & 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and charged & indicted (4/11/20) with fraud relating to a patient's blood test. Another count of wire fraud was added in 2020, bringing the total number of felony charges to 12. Plead not guilty. No bond. Faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison & up to $2.75 million in fines, plus restitution, & $250K for each individual count of wire fraud & conspiracy.
Defrauding investors out of $700 million in funding for their blood-testing startup Theranos.
Trial began on 8/31/21 with jury selection. 12 jurors of 7 men & 5 women (6 Caucasians, 4 Hispanics & 2 Asians) with five alternates (3 men & 2 women). Juror #7 excused & replaced with alternate #1. Now jurors are 8 men & 4 women. Alternates 2 men & 2 women. 10/6/21: Juror #4 excused & replace with alternate #2. Now jurors are 8 men & 4 women. Alternates 2 men & 1 woman. 10/22/21: The judge excused Juror #5, moving up the third alternate to replace the juror. Both are women. No word on why the juror was excused. Now jurors are 8 men & 4 women. Alternates 2 men.
Trial began on 9/8/21.
The Court trial days will be Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday, possibly other half days. The Court may modify the trial time & set either 8:30am-2pm or 9am-2pm & possibly 30-minute breaks in between. Judge Edward J. Davila presiding. Jury selection was on 8/31 & 9/1 completed. Judge Davila said the juror whose mother-in-law died suddenly last week wants to travel for a few days next week for the memorial service, so trial won't be in session next Friday, Oct. 29. 10/20/21: Judge Davila notes that a juror can't be in court Friday, 11/12 & 12/3 & the judge has a conflict in November at some point due to a meeting in the Ninth Circuit committee. Motions hearing on 11/2/21, 11/16/21 & 11/17/21. Trial dates: 11/30, 12/3, 12/7, 12/8, 12/9, 12/10, 12/13, 12/16, 12/17 so far & no court from 12/21/31 thru 1/6/22.
Indictment & court info from 4/11/20 thru 8/26/21 & on 9/30/21 & on 11/2/21 & jury selection (Day 1-3) 8/31/21 to 9/2/21 & trial (Day 1-33) 9/8/21 to 11/22/21 & motions hearing on 11/8/21 & 11/19/21 reference post #907 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
11/29/21 Monday, Trial Day 34: Motion hearing: Holmes' request to admit certain statements that Sunny Balwani made in civil litigation during the SEC's probe into Theranos -- even though his attorneys say he plans to plead the 5th. The DOJ doesn't want Balwani's statements to come in. Prosecutors argue (in part) that Balwani was in love with Holmes during his SEC depo - even though it was a year after they broke up - so his statements aren't trustworthy. Jean Ralph Fleurmont is up arguing for defense & Prosecutor Kelly Volkar for government.
for more info see posts #910 & 911 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Judge Davila is back on the bench. He asks the attorneys about "timing." Holmes' counsel says he expects to wrap Holmes' direct exam today, and cross will begin today and likely take up tomorrow.
Defense witness: Elizabeth Holmes back on stand for direct by Kevin Downey.
for more info see posts #912 to 914, 917 & 920 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Elizabeth Holmes continued.
For more info see posts #922, 923, 926 to 930, 934 & 935 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Holmes counsel Kevin Downey wrapped Holmes' direct examination & the defense is passing Holmes to the prosecution to begin her cross-examination, but Judge Davila is breaking trial for the day, due to the "travel time" it'll take to move all the government binders to the stand. The jury was excused for the day & the judge retired to his chambers. Trial continues on 11/30/21.
*Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (53/now 56) (CFO & President of Theranos) – Pretrial conference hearing on 12/16/21 & trial set to begin on 1/11/22 with jury selection & trial starts on 1/18/22.

 

[Herat]

No DA today?

A CNN update. Not anything at all as wonderful as Dorothy Atkins' word by word

Live updates: Elizabeth Holmes testifies in her own trial

 

[mickey2942]

I am surprised that the trials were split. And it sickens me that Holmes is now playing the "abuse" card.

She committed fraud for years, because she was afraid of Balwani? Or she didn't know what was going on? Which is it?

 

[Herat]

It's a combination of Dumb Blonde / Dog ate my Theranos homework defense

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
5h

Good morning from San Jose. I’m here for day 1 of Elizabeth Holmes’ cross examination in her criminal fraud trial and the line to get inside the courthouse is slightly longer than yesterday. Tweets are comin’, standby…

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

I'm in the overflow courtroom, and the clerk is here with extra signs and barriers so that nobody messes with the court's technology if it stops working. Apparently, she got wind of a reporter - a local hero in these parts - who fixed the audio when it went down the other day.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

The clerk says somebody reported the reporter "to the judge" who got upset that people were touching the tech in the overflow room. (I wonder if they also told him the audio wasn't working and it took 20+ mins for staff to respond to my call requesting that it be fixed.)

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

While we wait for trial to start, let's all take the time to read a few excerpts from the U.S. Supreme Court's 1980 decision in Richmond Newspapers Inc. v. Virginia, which held that the 1st Amendment implicitly guarantees the press access to public trials.

https://t.co/9BvpOJ32qJ?amp=1


Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Judge Ed Davila is on the bench to discuss whether to admit some of Balwani's SEC deposition. Prosecutor Kelly Voklar says the depo is 1,300 pages long and she hasn't gotten through it yet to make objections on cumulative or moot grounds.