GUILTY CA - Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, 56, (Theranos), wire fraud charges

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Dorothy Atkins
@doratki

5h

I'm still in court waiting for the gov't to say whether they're going to call rebuttal witnesses. The attorneys are arguing over jury instructions and a prosecutor says it depends on the language in an 'adverse inference' instruction. Good grief, really drawing this thing out.

Dorothy Atkins
@doratki

4h

40 minutes of legal arguments (most of which have already been made many times over) about this missing Theranos database, and for the love of god just tell us if there's going to be a rebuttal case.

Dorothy Atkins
@doratki

4h

The judge just ruled that a jury instruction Balwani's counsel requested is inappropriate, b/c the gov't didn't lose or destroy the LIS database - "they never had it. they were never able to get into it" (The judge actually already ruled on this before & yet here we are again)

Dorothy Atkins
@doratki

4h

One perk of being a legal reporter is that if you miss something a judge or attorney said, there's a very good chance that they will repeat themselves over and over and over again.

Dorothy Atkins
@doratki

4h

Judge: "Can the government answer the question about rebuttal now?" Prosecutor says "yes," they're not going to call rebuttal witnesses in Sunny Balwani's trial. That means next up is closings! The judge doesn't want to have closings tmr. Instead, they'll begin Tuesday.

Dorothy Atkins
@doratki

1h

Elizabeth Holmes' defense largely hung on her abuse claims. Balwani's appears to hang on a encrypted Theranos database that can't be unlocked. Trial closings kick off Tuesday.

t.co

Balwani Rests After Testimony On Lost Theranos Database - Law360

Ex-Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani rested his defense case in a monthslong criminal fraud trial Thursday after a daylong examination of Balwani's expert witness who testified over objections that the government could have recovered a missing Theranos database, which Balwani claims...
t.co t.co
 
CHANGE in docket!!


Friday, Jun 10 2022
10:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh Sunny Balwani (NC)
Charging Conference


and since I personally did not know "what" a "charging conference" is -

Charge-conference definition
A meeting between a judge and the parties' lawyers, after the parties have closed their cases and before the jury is charged, to determine the content of the instructions to the jury and to note any objections the lawyers may have to the instructions proposed by the judge.


Tuesday, Jun 14 2022
09:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani
Jury Trial [Closing arguments]

rest of the schedule is the same as in post #194.

link: CALENDAR
 
Friday, June 10th:
*Trial continues (no jurors) (@ 10am PT) - CA – *Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (53/now 56) (CFO & President of Theranos) indicted & charged (6/14/18) & arraigned (6/15/18) with 9 counts of wire fraud & 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 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 & a fine of $2.75 million, plus restitution, & $250K for each individual count of wire fraud & conspiracy. Plead Not guilty. SEC 5:18-cv-01603 filed 3/14/18 pending; plead not guilty.
Defrauding investors out of $700 million in funding for their blood-testing startup Theranos.
Trial began on 3/22/22. Jury: 12 jurors (6 women & 6 men) & 6 alternates (2 women & 4 men). 3/21/22: Juror #1 sick, alternate moves to jury. 12 jurors (6 women & 6 men) & 5 alternates (2 women & 3 men). 6/6/22: Another juror is sick with COVID is excused. 12 jurors (6 women & 5 men-maybe) & 4 alternates (2 women & 2 men). According to tweets there should only be 2 alternates left – so 12 jurors (8 women & 4 men-maybe) & 3 alternates (3 man-maybe). 6/9/22: The judge says he's going to excuse juror no. 5 due to "health concerns" & replace him with an alternate. Jury: 12 jurors (8 women & 4 men) & 2 alternate: (2 men). Trial Court will be in session on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays (from 9-3), but the jury may be asked to come in on some Mondays & Thursdays as well. Trial dates so far: 6/10 no jurors, 6/14, 6/15, 6/17, 6/21, 6/22, 6/24, 6/28, 6/29, 7/1, 7/5, 7/6, 7/8/22. all @ 9am The Government rested their case on 5/20/22. Defense rested their case on 6/9/22.
Indictment & court info from 4/11/20 thru 3/8/22 & Jury selection (Day 1-4) 3/9/22 to 3/15/22 & 3/16 to 3/21/22 & Trial Days 1-2 (3/22 to 3/23/22) & hearing on 3/29/22 & 4/12/22 & Trial Days 3-14 (3/30 to 4/29/22) & 5/3/22 & Trial Days 15-20 (5/4 & 5/20/22) & 5/17, 5/19 & 5/23/22 (no jurors) reference post #192 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-10
6/6/22 Monday: Motion in Limine & Motion for miscellaneous relief.
For more info see post #193 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-10
Judge Davila says another juror got COVID. They're going to excuse him. Only 3 alternates left! I had 4 left.
Trial continues on Thursday, 6/9/22 with defense presented their case.
6/9/22 Thursday, Trial Day 21: Defense witness: Richard L. Sonnier III. He's an expert witness to testify on the notorious missing Theranos LIS database.
For more info see posts #198 to 200 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-10
The judge says he's going to excuse juror no. 5 due to "health concerns" & replace him with an alternate.
Defense rested their case. Prosecutors will not call any rebuttal witnesses.
For more info see post #201 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
Charging conference on Friday, 6/10/22 @ 10am. Trial continues with closing arguments will start on Tuesday, 6/14/22.
*Elizabeth A. Holmes (34/now 37) (CEO of Theranos) – Trial began on 9/8/21 & ended 1/3/22 with a verdict of guilty on 4 counts of 11. Sentencing hearing on 9/26/22. Filed (5/27/22) for dismissal of all charges. Next motions hearing on 7/21/22.
 
Dorothy Atkins
@doratki

5h

Happy Friday from a hot San Jose! I'm here for Sunny Balwani's charging conference. This is when the attorneys fight over the wording of jury instructions and charges. It'll probably be a lotta inside-baseball legal arguments, but will tweet if something big happens.

Dorothy Atkins
@doratki

4h

The hearing wrapped w/ no major news. The parties argued over the order of certain instructions, and the judge mostly stuck to the same instructions given in Holmes' trial. The attorneys also asked for lavalier mics so they can really put on a show in closings Tuesday.
✌️
 
Tuesday, June 14th:
*Trial continues (Day 22)-Closing Arguments-CONTINUED! (@ 9am PT) - CA – *Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (53/now 56) (CFO & President of Theranos) indicted & charged (6/14/18) & arraigned (6/15/18) with 9 counts of wire fraud & 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 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 & a fine of $2.75 million, plus restitution, & $250K for each individual count of wire fraud & conspiracy. Plead Not guilty. SEC 5:18-cv-01603 filed 3/14/18 pending; plead not guilty.
Defrauding investors out of $700 million in funding for their blood-testing startup Theranos.
Trial began on 3/22/22. Jury left: 12 jurors (8 women & 4 men) & 2 alternates (2 men). See post #203 here for jury eliminations:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
Trial Court will be in session on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays (from 9-3), but the jury may be asked to come in on some Mondays & Thursdays as well. Trial dates so far: 6/14-Closing Arguments, 6/15, 6/17, 6/21-Closing Arguments, 6/22, 6/24, 6/28, 6/29, 7/1, 7/5, 7/6, 7/8/22. all @ 9am The Government rested their case on 5/20/22. Defense rested their case on 6/9/22.
Indictment & court info from 4/11/20 thru 3/8/22 & Jury selection (Day 1-4) 3/9/22 to 3/15/22 & 3/16 to 3/21/22 & Trial Days 1-2 (3/22 to 3/23/22) & hearing on 3/29/22 & 4/12/22 & Trial Days 3-14 (3/30 to 4/29/22) & 5/3/22 & Trial Days 15-20 (5/4 & 5/20/22) & 5/17, 5/19 & 5/23/22 (no jurors) reference post #192 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-10
6/10/22 Friday: The Charging conference hearing wrapped with no major news. The parties argued over the order of certain instructions & the Judge mostly stuck to the same instructions given in Holmes' trial. The attorneys also asked for lavalier mics so they can really put on a show in closings was to be on Tuesday, 6/14/22, but a motion filed Stipulation Order: trial continuance-granted. Closing arguments will begin on 6/21/22.
 
Niner said:
Dorothy mentioned that there were only 2 alternates left - I had 4 left... guess I missed 2 being excused. Guessing they got sick of COVID also??
Click to expand...
Maybe just sick of this never-ending trial? I hope the jury is taking notes so they can refresh their memories of things that happened at the beginning of the trial months ago.
 
Balwani docket updated! They added 6/23 @ 12pm I'm guessing for jury deliberations.

Tuesday, Jun 21 2022
09:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh Sunny Balwani (NC)
Jury Trial

Wednesday, Jun 22 2022
09:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh Sunny Balwani (NC)
Jury Trial

Thursday, Jun 23 2022
12:00PM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh Sunny Balwani
Jury Trial

Friday, Jun 24 2022
09:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh Sunny Balwani (NC)
Jury Trial

Tuesday, Jun 28 2022
09:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani
Jury Trial

Wednesday, Jun 29 2022
09:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani
Jury Trial

Friday, Jul 1 2022
09:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani
Jury Trial

Tuesday, Jul 5 2022
09:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani
Jury Trial

Wednesday, Jul 6 2022
09:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani
Jury Trial

Friday, Jul 8 2022
09:00AM
5:18-cr-00258-EJD-2 - USA v. Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani
Jury Trial


link: CALENDAR
 
Tuesday, June 21st:
*Trial continues (Day 21)-Closing Arguments (@ 9am PT) - CA – *Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (53/now 57) (CFO & President of Theranos) indicted & charged (6/14/18) & arraigned (6/15/18) with 9 counts of wire fraud & 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 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 & a fine of $2.75 million, plus restitution, & $250K for each individual count of wire fraud & conspiracy. Plead Not guilty. SEC 5:18-cv-01603 filed 3/14/18 pending; plead not guilty.
Defrauding investors out of $700 million in funding for their blood-testing startup Theranos.
Trial began on 3/22/22. Jury left: 12 jurors (8 women & 4 men) & 2 alternates (2 men). See post #203 here for jury eliminations:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
Trial Court will be in session on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays (from 9-3), but the jury may be asked to come in on some Mondays & Thursdays as well. The Government rested their case on 5/20/22. Defense rested their case on 6/9/22. Trial dates so far: 6/21-Closing Arguments, 6/22, 6/23, 6/24, 6/28, 6/29, 7/1, 7/5, 7/6 & 7/8/22.
Indictment & court info from 4/11/20 thru 3/8/22 & Jury selection (Day 1-4) 3/9/22 to 3/15/22 & 3/16 to 3/21/22 & Trial Days 1-2 (3/22 to 3/23/22) & hearing on 3/29/22 & 4/12/22 & Trial Days 3-14 (3/30 to 4/29/22) & 5/3/22 & Trial Days 15-20 (5/4 & 5/20/22) & 5/17, 5/19, 5/23/22 & 6/10/22 (no jurors) reference post #207 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
Closing arguments will begin on 6/21/22 Day 21 of trial.
*Elizabeth A. Holmes (34/now 37) (CEO of Theranos) – Trial began on 9/8/21 & ended 1/3/22 with a verdict of guilty on 4 counts of 11. Sentencing hearing on 9/26/22. Filed (5/27/22) for dismissal of all charges. Next motions hearing on 7/21/22.
 
for Tuesday, 6/21/22

Dorothy Atkins
@doratki
·
15h
Good morning and happy summer solstice from San Jose! Exactly 6 months ago, on the winter solstice, a jury began deliberating criminal charges against Elizabeth Holmes. Today, Sunny Balwani and prosecutors will give closings in a case over the same charges. Standby for updates..

Seems fitting that closings in Sunny Balwani's criminal fraud trial are occurring on the longest day of the year, since it's unclear if both sides will get through their arguments today. Holmes' closings took only one day, but Balwani's counsel suggested it'll take 2 days.

The jury is in the courtroom and Judge Ed Davila is on the bench. For the first time since opening arguments in Sunny Balwani's criminal fraud trial, most of the courtroom gallery is full with spectators. Prosecutor Jeff Schenk is up for the gov't. Getting right to closings!

Jeff Schenk begins telling jurors: "Sunny Balwani & Elizabeth Holmes agreed to commit fraud in the hopes that they would buy more time for Theranos." He says Balwani knew Theranos was running out of money & instead of letting his "girlfriend's business" fail, he committed fraud.

Schenk says Balwani knew Theranos was cash strapped, and if he had been honest with investors he would have told them that tech had not validated by pharma, it had no significant deals w/ the military or Walgreens, it didn't have revenue and its blood-tests weren't reliable.

Schenk is summarizing witness testimony, which actually seems useful at this point. (It's been a whole month since jurors have heard from government witnesses due to multiple unexplained trial delays.)

Schenk says Balwani was telling investors in 2014 Theranos would generate $1B in revs by 2015 due to Theranos' Walgreens deal. "He knows he duped Walgreens into the business relationship and it’s just a matter of time before that house of cards crumbles."

Schenk says Balwani took the time to go through Theranos' financial projections with the DeVos family wealth manager in 2014, and adjusted some projections, but stuck with his $1B 2015 revenues. "There was an in person doubling down on these numbers," Schenk says.

Schenk finished recapping witness testimony. He's explaining the 2 alleged schemes to defraud investors & patients. He shows the jury a slide with a quote from a text message Balwani sent Holmes saying "I am responsible for everything at Theranos. All have been my decisions too.”

Schenk says under the alleged conspiracy, Elizabeth Holmes recruited investors, but both Balwani and Holmes communicated w/ investors individually and they both made the same alleged false statements about Theranos' tech to investors.

Schenk says Balwani fired Theranos lab directors who disagreed with him and replaced them with "absentee" lab directors, including his dermatologist, who weren't at Theranos and who "did not express dissent."

Schenk is explaining the various wire fraud counts and different evidence supporting the counts. He argues that binders of info that Balwani helped create were sent to Rupert Murdoch and other investors & they made broad claims about revenues & Theranos' accuracy & reliability.

Schenk shows the jury a slide that Balwani presented to Walgreens execs. Balwani said he was 95% confident that by the end of 2014 less than 5% of Theranos blood-tests would be conducted w/ blood drawn venously, when in reality it was still 40% by the end of 2014.

Trial is breaking for 40 minutes. It's been about 2 hours and 20 minutes and Schenk still isn't done with the gov't's closings yet.

We're back! Schenk is still walking the jury through various elements of wire fraud like intent & materiality. There are 12 counts in total: 2 conspiracy counts to defraud investors + patients, 7 wire counts for investor fraud and 3 for patient fraud. (Here's the verdict form.)

Verdit form.jpg

Over the past hour, Schenk has flipped through a lot of evidence, which he says shows Balwani hid from investors patient complaints about Theranos' tests. He also summarized a CMS official's testimony, who said Holmes and Balwani tried to sway the federal agency's findings.

Based on the length of the government's closings so far, which are currently clocking in at just about 4 hours at this point, there's really no way we'll finish Balwani's closings and the rebuttal by 4 p.m. today.

Most of the jurors were taking notes at the beginning of closing arguments, and to my surprise many of them still are. (Perhaps it helps them stay awake.)

Schenk counters Balwani's defense that Theranos tests had been validated by its scientists. "Theranos was validating assays because they needed money not because the science was ready," Schenk says. He adds that Theranos workers were pressured to validate the tests despite flaws.

Schenk also counters Balwani's argument that his Theranos financial projections were aspirational and not exact. Schenk tells the jury to look at how "wildly off" Theranos' projections were. They're off "by a huge margin" and not just a few dollars, he says.

Schenk says Balwani has argued that the missing Theranos database would show that the tests worked, but even if that were true, it wouldn't clear Balwani of investor charges, & lab director Adam Rosendorff testified the tests were unreliable even w/ the data in the database.

Schenk wrapped govt closings (for now since they get a rebuttal) saying Balwani wasn't expecting a jury to see his emails & texts showing his fraud. He says again, "The biggest threat to fraud is the truth." (Catchy line!) Trial's breaking for 15 before Balwani's counsel is up.

link:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1539366404788391936

Next post - defense closing...
 
Dorothy Atkins
@doratki
·
9h
Balwani's counsel Jeff Coopersmith of @orrick
is up for the defense's closings. He begins by saying Balwani "put his heart and soul into Theranos" & "he worked tirelessly year after year" on Theranos' software & manufacturing deals and he worked w/ investors & hiring employees.

Coopersmith says Balwani put his money where his mouth is and invested $4.5 million into Theranos in 2010 and 2011, and guaranteed a $12 million loan so that Theranos could make its payroll, b/c of his "unwavering and sincere belief" in Theranos' technology.

He says prosecutors have pointed to numerous text messages b/w Balwani and Holmes, but those texts were private. He also notes that witnesses testified that Holmes was "brilliant and charismatic," and she attracted powerful investors including Don Lucas and Larry Ellison.

Coopersmith says prosecutors cherry picked Balwani's text messages and emails to show only problems at Theranos, and times when he was "venting" and upset, but that's not the whole story.

Oh boy, Coopersmith just told jurors that the gov't never played for the jury Elizabeth Holmes' recorded call w/ investors. "We have to wonder why not," he says. (The judge wouldn't let Balwani play the call for the jury unless the gov't played it first.)

Coopersmith points out that the Theranos patient database is missing, and prosecutors didn't call board members as witnesses. "You have to look at things as Balwani saw them w/ his own eyes, and not with the benefit of hindsight," the atty says.

Balwani's counsel warns the jury that his closing arguments "will be lengthy" and they will spill over into tomorrow. "Hopefully not longer than that, but we'll see," he says.

Coopersmith says prosecutors cherry picked Balwani's text messages and emails to show only problems at Theranos, and times when he was "venting" and upset, but that's not the whole story.

link: https://twitter.com/doratki



That's all there is - so probably will continue today (6/22/22) with government's rebuttal & then hopefully the jury gets to deliberations.
 
Last edited:
Wednesday, June 22nd:
*Trial continues (Day 22) (@ 9am PT) - CA – *Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (53/now 57) (CFO & President of Theranos) indicted & charged (6/14/18) & arraigned (6/15/18) with 9 counts of wire fraud & 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 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 & a fine of $2.75 million, plus restitution, & $250K for each individual count of wire fraud & conspiracy. Plead Not guilty. SEC 5:18-cv-01603 filed 3/14/18 pending; plead not guilty.
Defrauding investors out of $700 million in funding for their blood-testing startup Theranos.
Trial began on 3/22/22. Jury left: 12 jurors (8 women & 4 men) & 2 alternates (2 men). See post #203 here for jury eliminations:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
Trial Court will be in session on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays (from 9-3), but the jury may be asked to come in on some Mondays & Thursdays as well. The Government rested their case on 5/20/22. Defense rested their case on 6/9/22. Trial dates so far: 6/22, 6/23, 6/24, 6/28, 6/29, 7/1, 7/5, 7/6, 7/8/22.
Indictment & court info from 4/11/20 thru 3/8/22 & Jury selection (Day 1-4) 3/9/22 to 3/15/22 & 3/16 to 3/21/22 & Trial Days 1-2 (3/22 to 3/23/22) & hearing on 3/29/22 & 4/12/22 & Trial Days 3-14 (3/30 to 4/29/22) & 5/3/22 & Trial Days 15-20 (5/4 & 5/20/22) & 5/17, 5/19, 5/23 & 6/10/22 (no jurors) reference post #211 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
6/21/22 Tuesday, Trial Day 21: Closing arguments by Prosecutor Jeff Schenk.
For more info see post #213 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
Closing arguments by defense attorney Jeff Coopersmith.
For more info see post #214 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
Trial continues with Government’s rebuttal arguments on 6/22/22.
*Elizabeth A. Holmes (34/now 37) (CEO of Theranos) – Trial began on 9/8/21 & ended 1/3/22 with a verdict of guilty on 4 counts of 11. Sentencing hearing on 9/26/22. Filed (5/27/22) for dismissal of all charges. Next motions hearing on 7/21/22.
 
Dorothy Atkins
@doratki
·
17h
FYI - I will not be covering closings today in Sunny Balwani’s trial due to a family emergency. Related, if a hospital is so full and understaffed that it can’t timely help in emergency situations, then maybe don’t call it an emergency room.


link: https://twitter.com/doratki


found this article - but nothing on what happened yesterday...

news.yahoo.com

Closing arguments to resume in trial of former Theranos executive, Sunny Balwani

Closing arguments resume Wednesday in the trial of former Theranos executive, Sunny Balwani. Prosecutors have already convicted Balwani's former partner, Elizabeth Holmes on four counts of fraud.
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com


June 22, 2022
Closing arguments resume Wednesday in the trial of former Theranos executive, Sunny Balwani. Prosecutors have already convicted Balwani's former partner, Elizabeth Holmes on four counts of fraud.
 
I'm guessing here - that jury started deliberations since I couldn't find anything about yesterday's hearings. If anyone can find something - that would be great! :)


Thursday, June 23rd:
*Trial continues (Day 23)-VERDICT WATCH?! (@ 12pm PT) - CA – *Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (53/now 57) (CFO & President of Theranos) indicted & charged (6/14/18) & arraigned (6/15/18) with 9 counts of wire fraud & 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 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 & a fine of $2.75 million, plus restitution, & $250K for each individual count of wire fraud & conspiracy. Plead Not guilty. SEC 5:18-cv-01603 filed 3/14/18 pending; plead not guilty.
Defrauding investors out of $700 million in funding for their blood-testing startup Theranos.
Trial began on 3/22/22. Jury left: 12 jurors (8 women & 4 men) & 2 alternates (2 men). See post #203 here for jury eliminations:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
Trial Court will be in session on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays (from 9-3), but the jury may be asked to come in on some Mondays & Thursdays as well. The Government rested their case on 5/20/22. Defense rested their case on 6/9/22. Trial dates so far: 6/23, 6/24, 6/28, 6/29, 7/1, 7/5, 7/6, 7/8/22.
Indictment & court info from 4/11/20 thru 3/8/22 & Jury selection (Day 1-4) 3/9/22 to 3/15/22 & 3/16 to 3/21/22 & Trial Days 1-2 (3/22 to 3/23/22) & hearing on 3/29/22 & 4/12/22 & Trial Days 3-14 (3/30 to 4/29/22) & 5/3/22 & Trial Days 15-20 (5/4 & 5/20/22) & 5/17, 5/19, 5/23 & 6/10/22 (no jurors) & Trial Days 21 (6/21/22) reference post #215 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
6/22/22 Wednesday, Trial Day 22: Closing arguments resume Wednesday. Rebuttal arguments by Prosecutor Jeff Schenk. Jury starts deliberations??
For more info see post #216 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...56-theranos-wire-fraud-charges.614821/page-11
Trial continues with jury continuing deliberations on 6/23/22 at 12pm.
*Elizabeth A. Holmes (34/now 37) (CEO of Theranos) – Trial began on 9/8/21 & ended 1/3/22 with a verdict of guilty on 4 counts of 11. Sentencing hearing on 9/26/22. Filed (5/27/22) for dismissal of all charges. Next motions hearing on 7/21/22.
 
for Thursday, June 23rd:


Dorothy Atkins
@doratki
·
10h
I'm back in San Jose covering closing arguments in Sunny Balwani's criminal fraud trial. Yesterday, my colleague @bonnieeslinger covered a full day of Balwani's closings, which are about to resume. It's unclear if the case will go to the jury today.
[me: I could not find any posts by Bonnie for Wednesday's closing]

Judge Ed Davila is on the bench. He says he wants to talk to counsel "a little bit about scheduling." He tells Balwani's counsel he's argued 7 hours and 45 minutes (!). "I expect to finish my arguments today," the attorney replies, although he notes that it might take all day.

A prosecutor says they hope their rebuttal closing argument will take less than 2 hours, and if they don't have enough time to do the whole thing today, they'll ask the court to begin tomorrow, before sending the case to the jury.

Apparently a lot of the jurors have conflicting travel plans around July 4th, so scheduling deliberations is going to be tricky. The judge is considering swapping seated Juror No 10 with an alternate, b/c she's on vacation for a week starting Sunday.

The jury's back in the courtroom, and Balwani's attorney Jeff Coopersmith of @orrick
is back up heading into hour eight of Balwani's closings. He begins by telling jurors he thinks he'll finish today.

Balwani's attorney says the three topics he has left to discuss during closings are: specific Theranos investors, Theranos patients and the missing Theranos LIS database.

Balwani's attorney is focusing on hedge fund manager Brian Grossman's 2014 emails w/ Balwani. Grossman asked to tour Theranos labs before investing in Theranos, but Balwani replied "lab is going to be very difficult as large parts of it are patent pending and/or not filed yet."

Balwani's attorney notes that Grossman admitted on the stand he knew Theranos was doing tests using blood drawn venously. He flipped through financial projections and pointed out various line items, including a zero line item for DOD revenue estimate. "There's no numbers there."

During the first day of closing arguments, many members of the jury were taking notes, even six hours in. Today, none of them have been taking notes, although a few of them have pens in hand.

Balwani's counsel moved on to the DeVos family. He points out that the family's wealth manager Lisa Peterson testified, even though Rick, Dick, Dan and Doug DeVos were the decision makers, and Peterson admitted on the stand that she doesn't know if they read her Theranos memos.

Balwani's attorney asks a good q: Why didn’t we hear from Rick, Dick, Dan and Doug DeVos during trial? "They invested $100 million. You’d think they’d be bothered to come to testify, but we didn’t hear from them. We heard from Ms. Peterson."

Balwani's atty repeatedly said the financial projections given to Theranos investors include the assumption tests would roll out in 900 Walgreens stores. "It’s just math, as Mr. Grossman said. If they have more stores then they have more revenue. There’s no intention to mislead."

Balwani's counsel says the DeVos family's wealth manager Lisa Peterson was "just saying what she has to say to look better" when she testified against Balwani. He says she knew about Theranos' risks, but instead claims the DeVos family was fooled.

Moving on to investor Dan Mosley, an ex-Cravath trusts and estates partner. Balwani's counsel argues that Mosley claims he was duped now b/c Theranos is "radioactive" in hindsight, but evidence shows he recommended the startup to his rich clients in 2014.

Balwani is looking at exhibits w/ his hands in his in his lap. He's wearing a suit and a blue disposable mask. Folks have asked me what he's like in the courthouse. He tends to walk around the halls w/o his counsel, unlike Holmes, who was always accompanied during her trial.

Balwani's counsel counters a piece of evidence that shows a Theranos investor was told the "science" was complete by arguing that investors knew that Theranos had a huge R&D budget and it's illogical that they would think the science was done based on it.

Balwani says Theranos investors are biased b/c they lost money. "It’s a piling on effect, everyone wants to say that, "I was fooled, I didn’t do anything.' That’s why it’s so important to look at contemporaneous documents in this case... And not just rely on people’s memories."

Lol, Balwani's atty ripped investor Alan Eisenman, pointing out that Balwani told him to sell his Theranos shares, which is "the opposite of intent to defraud." He adds why would anyone want Eisenman's money? You'd get $99k, "but you would have to deal with Alan Eisenman forever"

Balwani's atty moved on from investors to Theranos patients - close to the end! He argues that part of a patient's erroneous Theranos pregnancy test result was a transcription error, & the Theranos error rate for that doctor was .36% b/c his other patients didn't report mistakes.

Balwani's counsel said the other patient who testified received an inaccurate HIV test result from Theranos, but he noted that the test was done by Theranos on a commercial, non-Theranos device.

Balwani's atty calls the patients' bad Theranos test results "an unfortunate couple of errors," but they would need more data to know if the tests didn't actually work. He adds that if the tests were so bad, "why aren’t there patients lining up around the courthouse to testify?"

There are two jurors who look like they keep nodding off.

Balwani's counsel says the missing Theranos database contained all patient test results, which he says shows Theranos tests work, and in Oct 2018, prosecutors knew they couldn't unlock their copy of the database, and they could have tried to get the original servers, but didn't.

Balwani's counsel is on the last topic, and he tells jurors, "I'm sure you're all happy about that." (The sleepers are now awake.) He shows the jury the verdict form w/ 'not guilty' filled in & notes that Balwani is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Balwani's counsel says the DOJ's case against Balwani was incomplete & unfair. He questions why the gov't didn't play Holmes' call w/ investors and why they didn't call ex-Theranos VP Daniel Young to testify. "He’s on 78 emails he had his hands on everything. Why isn’t he here?"

Balwani's attorney asks why the gov't didn't call the DeVos family, Theranos scientists, pharma execs, Theranos board members, Fortune mag writer @rparloff
and Walgreens execs, like Wade Miquelon (he testified in Holmes' trial), among others.

Balwani's counsel: "We’re in a federal criminal trial and Theranos is radioactive to people.. They don’t want to say at this point unless they have to that they approved anything...They just want to say there were problems and they were heroes."

Balwani's attorney says Walgreens doesn't want to admit that it was a Theranos "cheerleader," and Theranos' "wealthy powerful investors want to say they were fooled," and they don’t want to admit they took a risk by investing in a unicorn to get richer.

Balwani’s counsel finishes his three-day closing argument saying “the truth is fatal to the prosecution of Mr. Balwani.” Trial is breaking until tmr. Rebuttal will be in the morning and the judge says his “sense is” that the jury will deliberate in the afternoon.

link: https://twitter.com/doratki
 
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