CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud

[Sillybilly]

ADMIN NOTE:

The Behavior Panel episode with body language / speech analysis experts Greg Hartley and Scott Rouse has been approved for discussion and posts have been reinstated.

This is also blanket approval for The Behavior Panel as an approved source on a regular basis at Websleuths.

 

[LinasK]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
12m

We're back, and the government called Kingshuk Das to the stand. Das is a medical doctor and he worked as Theranos' lab director for 2.5 years, starting in March 2016 until 2018, around the time the company dissolved amid regulatory and public scrutiny.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
6m

Prosecutor Robert Leach points to federal CLIA regulations that say CMS can revoke or suspend a lab owner's CLIA lab certificate if violations are found.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
18m

Das says that when he started working at Theranos, he thought that Theranos wasn't performing blood tests on its Edison or MiniLab devices, and he didn't think the company was using non-FDA approved machines to test fingerstick blood samples.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
16m

Das says he had minimal interaction with Sunny Balwani, because Balwani left Theranos soon after Das began working full time at Theranos. He said initially he primarily did paperwork, responding to statements of deficiencies that CMS issued after an audit of Theranos' lab.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
13m

Das says he reported to Elizabeth Holmes and he responded to CMS's 121-page statement of deficiencies. He says he had many conversations with Holmes and traveled with Holmes to Washington DC to speak to CMS officials about its report.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
5m

A cover letter came with the CMS report. The letter - dated Jan 25, 2016 - was addressed to Theranos' prior lab director, Sunil Dhawan, and says after a Nov 2015 inspection, CMS concluded Theranos' lab deficiencies "pose immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3m

Testimony is slow, b/c they're having technical issues with redactions in the CMS report. Holmes' counsel also has raised multiple objections, but the judge overruled them and noted the evidence can speak to Holmes' state of mind, but not the truth of the matter asserted.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
24m

Prosecutor points to CMS findings. Das agrees that quality control tests of multiple Theranos assays on the Edison devices violated the "2SD rule," which is a Westgard rule. (Ex-Theranos lab director Adam Rosendorff testified Theranos never adopted Westguard rules into policy.)

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
21m

Das says there was an instance where Theranos tests reported prostate-specific antigens in women who had been tested, but he noted that PSA is only found in men. Holmes told him it may be due to a breast cancer in women, but he says her explanation "seemed implausible."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
7m

Prosecutor points to Das' response to CMS that Theranos had a "global and long term failure of the quality control program" of its instrument and he had Theranos voided all patient test results "out of an abundance of caution."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
6m

Das said "these instruments were apparently mal-performing from the very beginning," but Holmes offered an "alternative explanation" that it was not an "instrument failure per se, but a failure of quality control and quality assurance program around it." He disagreed.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
5m

Das noted that Theranos' validation data "had no bearing on the quality control or quality assurance program," so it couldn't be just a QC problem. "I found these instruments to be unsuitable for clinical use," he said. Trial is taking a 30 minute break. BRB!

BBM. Wow! That's like a man faking a urine drug test with urine from a pregnant female.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Hello from San Jose! It's the 30th (!) day of Elizabeth Holmes' criminal fraud trial. The parties expect to spend most of the day finishing the exam of Theranos' fourth and final lab director, Dr. Kingshuk Das. Judge Davila is on the bench.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Prosecutor Jeff Schenk says the gov't wants guidance on Theranos' LIS database and whether "the door has been opened" to discuss why it's "missing." (ICYMI, it's missing b/c WilmerHale helped lose a decryption key to the hard drive w/ the database.)

WilmerHale Attys Helped Lose Theranos Data, Judge Says - Law360


Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Judge Davila says if part of the trial becomes who is responsible for losing the database, "then we’ll have litigation in front of the jury." He notes that "I can say my ears opened up a little more" when the topic was mentioned yesterday b/c "it is a controversial topic."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' counsel Lance Wade says he doesn't want the trial to go on longer than it has to, but he needs to review the transcript to determine if they plan to deeper into the topic. The judge: "I don’t want the trial to go into January. I don’t think we need to."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Judge Davila says court staff figured out "the bugs in our system" and so hopefully today will be productive. The judge made multiple comments about how he expects the gov't is "closer to the end than the beginning" of its case, but Schenk didn't say anything.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Thirty days into Elizabeth Holmes' criminal trial and we've gotten through fewer than 30 witnesses on the government's 181-member witness list.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

The jury is in the courtroom, and Das is back on the stand. Holmes' counsel Lance Wade is up continuing his cross examination. Somewhat counterintuitively, Wade starts by highlighting Das' extensive medical credentials and consulting experience.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade shows Das' Dec 2015 email to Holmes: "I am so impressed by the vision of what you’ve accomplished already & your plans for the future. I imagine I’ve heard only about the tip of the iceberg so far, but even so I spent the rest of the weekend excited about the possibilities.”

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

On the stand, Das says he doesn't remember the specifics of what he and Holmes discussed in the meeting, but "I remember her being very charismatic. It was a very positive meeting."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade points out that when Dr. Das was hired at Theranos and started as its full time lab director in March 2016, it was the first time Theranos' lab directors reported directly to Elizabeth Holmes, and not Sunny Balwani.

 

[mickey2942]

BBM. Wow! That's like a man faking a urine drug test with urine from a pregnant female.

But, Holmes said it was due to "Breast Cancer in women". Of course! Holy Nanotainers, Batman! The fact that men can also have breast cancer must have been beyond EH's comprehension.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade pulls up a Feb 2016 email that Das wrote stating Theranos' "CMS deficiency response is quite comprehensive, & addresses all the basic infrastructure that was missing (a LARGE undertaking) quite nicely -the clinical consultants and legal team did an outstanding job.."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

In a March 2016 email, Das agreed that Theranos needed a "bulldog type of person" to ensure compliance and "Elizabeth and Sunny have been fully supportive so there’s absolutely no issues there. They share oversight, depending on the issue, and it’s been seamless, so no worries."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade points out that lab owners depend on lab directors to oversee CLIA high-complexity labs and lab directors have "a lot of responsibility" and need to be sure "everything is done right," and they do that by hiring qualified staff. Das agrees.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Wade tries to get Das to acknowledge that there's no "magic list" of QC tests an assay must pass. But he disagrees, and says "there are set of experiments that need to be met," which set a framework for the assay.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Wade asked Das about what he thought was wrong with Theranos' validation reports. Das says he doesn't thing the lab's standards were wrong, but Theranos inappropriately used standards to validate assays. "The gates that were set were wrong?" Wade summarizes. "Yes," Das replies.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Wade asks Das if others disagreed w/ his recommendation to void 50k-60k Theranos blood tests. He says "there was no disagreement about avoiding." Wade tries to get Das to acknowledge it was a big deal, but Das says he doesn't know & "I can’t speak to what they would have wanted."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Das says there was a disagreement over the reason why Theranos needed to void its assays, and he acknowledges that Holmes was getting different advice from David Young. We're taking a 30 minute break. Brb!

 

[LinasK]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Hello from San Jose! It's the 30th (!) day of Elizabeth Holmes' criminal fraud trial. The parties expect to spend most of the day finishing the exam of Theranos' fourth and final lab director, Dr. Kingshuk Das. Judge Davila is on the bench.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Prosecutor Jeff Schenk says the gov't wants guidance on Theranos' LIS database and whether "the door has been opened" to discuss why it's "missing." (ICYMI, it's missing b/c WilmerHale helped lose a decryption key to the hard drive w/ the database.)

WilmerHale Attys Helped Lose Theranos Data, Judge Says - Law360


Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Judge Davila says if part of the trial becomes who is responsible for losing the database, "then we’ll have litigation in front of the jury." He notes that "I can say my ears opened up a little more" when the topic was mentioned yesterday b/c "it is a controversial topic."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' counsel Lance Wade says he doesn't want the trial to go on longer than it has to, but he needs to review the transcript to determine if they plan to deeper into the topic. The judge: "I don’t want the trial to go into January. I don’t think we need to."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Judge Davila says court staff figured out "the bugs in our system" and so hopefully today will be productive. The judge made multiple comments about how he expects the gov't is "closer to the end than the beginning" of its case, but Schenk didn't say anything.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Thirty days into Elizabeth Holmes' criminal trial and we've gotten through fewer than 30 witnesses on the government's 181-member witness list.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

The jury is in the courtroom, and Das is back on the stand. Holmes' counsel Lance Wade is up continuing his cross examination. Somewhat counterintuitively, Wade starts by highlighting Das' extensive medical credentials and consulting experience.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade shows Das' Dec 2015 email to Holmes: "I am so impressed by the vision of what you’ve accomplished already & your plans for the future. I imagine I’ve heard only about the tip of the iceberg so far, but even so I spent the rest of the weekend excited about the possibilities.”

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

On the stand, Das says he doesn't remember the specifics of what he and Holmes discussed in the meeting, but "I remember her being very charismatic. It was a very positive meeting."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade points out that when Dr. Das was hired at Theranos and started as its full time lab director in Ma rch 2016, it was the first time Theranos' lab directors reported directly to Elizabeth Holmes, and not Sunny Balwani.

BBM. No wonder that they wanted him kept out- now they can't blame it all on Sunny!

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

We're back! Holmes' counsel mentions that the next witness, investor Alan Eisenman, made a "statement made upon entering the courtroom," about wanting Holmes to go to prison, which he says is prejudicial, and Eisenman shouldn't "get a gold star for this behavior."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Prosecutor John Bostic says the gov't won't elicit that testimony from Eisenman, but it might come out. Judge Davila says the parties need to tread carefully around the topic, but it can be expected that an alleged victim of fraud might want the accused to go to prison.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Das is back on the stand. Wade is going through various emails Das sent in the spring of 2016 while he was reviewing Theranos' data and technology. In one April 2016 email giving an update on a test, Das titled the subject of the email "Some good news, for once"

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Wade gets Das to acknowledge that Theranos put in place enhanced procedures and "tracer audits" to make sure procedures are followed when he was its lab director. He also corrected lab reports, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Wade points to a March 2016 email in which Balwani asked Das whether a statement to WSJ "seems reasonable." The statement is Theranos "proprietary technologies have already been cleared for testing HSV-1 by the FDA. Separately, the majority of CMS deficiencies were not related.."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Das agrees that the statement seemed reasonable to him, and he signed off on a similar statement that Holmes asked him to review that same month.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
56m

A day after sending a "good news" email, Das wrote Holmes another email w/ the subject "“More bad news, sorry." He said he reviewed more data, and "I’m backed into a corner now." He recommended Theranos shut down its "BUGS lab." He says Holmes was "fully supportive" of his rec.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
51m

Wade asks Das if he thought Holmes had hired him to "uncover rocks" and do the types of investigations that could lead to shutting down Theranos' labs if necessary. He agrees that she did.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
46m

Wade pulls up an April 2016 email that Das wrote Holmes. He told her he discovered there was a BUGS lab employee who was "incompetent" & "appears to be dishonest as well" and "I can tolerate a certain amount of incompetence because w/ alignment and training it can be overcome.."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
46m

Das recommended firing the employee, and he testifies that Elizabeth Holmes was supportive of his decision.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
25m

Defense wrapped Das' cross. Prosecutor Robert Leach is up on redirect and he points out that Theranos' CLIA lab was operating for many years (since 2011) when Das was hired in Dec 2015.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
18m

Das says he didn't know that Theranos had done patient blood testing on modified non-Theranos devices and he didn't know the circumstances of Dr. Adam Rosendorff's departure. He also acknowledged that after he reviewed Theranos' quality control data "alarm bells" went off.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
6m

On recross now. Das acknowledges that when he was hired at Theranos in 2015, he knew that Elizabeth Holmes didn't have expertise in CLIA lab operations, pathology, validation benchmarks or "the way to run quality control programs."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3m

Das' examination wraps with Lance Wade asking Das about his favorite quote from "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," which Das apparently mentioned during a meeting at Theranos. The quote is "Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright it’s not yet the end."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1m

The government calls its next witness: retired money manager Alan Eisenman. Eisenman says he first invested in Theranos in 2006, and it was his first biotech investment.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
6m

Eisenman says he first heard about Elizabeth Holmes from a friend who told him a group of Houston investors were funding her startup. Hays e she was told she was "brilliant," and dropping out of Stanford to start her blood-testing business.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
36s

Eisenman says before he invested, he knew Theranos was an "early seed startup" but he was told Theranos had contracts with 5 or 6 pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb and Navartis, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison was on its board.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3m

Eisenman says his primary source of info was from Holmes, and initially she was "extremely accessible" and she held quarterly meetings by telephone. He said he took extensive notes during those phone calls, which is his general practice.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
14s

Eisenman says Holmes told him in ~2006 that Theranos was talking to Morgan Stanley about an IPO in a 12-18 month time period, and she anticipated Theranos' revenues to be $50-$60 million revenues coming year.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
21s

Eisenman says he and his wife invested $900k and each of his three kids invested $90k into Theranos, for a total of ~$1.2 million.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
10m

Trial took a 30 min break, but we’ll be back soon. Standby…

 

[mickey2942]

BBM. No wonder that they wanted him kept out- now they can't blame it all on Sunny!

How come the trials were split? Surprised.

 

[Seattle1]

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/10/eli...raud-case-government-will-rest-next-week.html

11/10/21

SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- In a surprise announcement, the government said Wednesday that it would likely rest its case next week against former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in her criminal fraud trial.

“It is likely that the government will rest next week,” Jeffrey Schenk, an assistant U.S. attorney, said adding that the government would not have enough witnesses to fill the week.

The announcement came after a day of testimony from Theranos investor Alan Eisenman, the government’s 24th witness in the case. Eisenman, who the government says is a key witness, testified that he suspected he wasn’t being given accurate information about the company’s technology.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

We're back! Right before the break, Eisenman said he was told Theranos would be cash flow positive around 2010. Prosecutor John Bostic points to a May 3 2010 email Eisenman wrote to Holmes asking to schedule a quarterly update call.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Eisenman wrote to Holmes that in March 2010, Theranos was manufacturing "about 500k cartridges, and selling about 400k at about $80 per cartridge. Can you share the same statistics for April and an estimate for May?" Holmes didn't respond so he followed up over a week later.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Holmes eventually responded to Eisenman "As you know, we don’t do quarterly calls w/ our other investors, many of whom invested much greater amounts than you did. I cannot commit to the exact quarterly schedule going forward..."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Holmes' email went on... that as they had discussed in march, "we cannot provide the level of communication you keep requesting. With the deals we are formalizing with retailers we are now obligated not to disclose our production volumes and cartridge sale prices..."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Holmes email to Eisenman... "I cannot provide the metrics you are requesting in your emails. At this point we also don’t have any plans to do an IPO anytime soon... Given your frustration level and our frustration level w/ our interaction" he should reconsider his investment.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Holmes offered Eisenman to liquidate his investment in Theranos and get "greater than five times" the amount he initially invested. He responded w/ a long email asking for more info on Theranos, but he says he never had further communication w/ Holmes.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Eisenman kept asking Theranos' chairman for info. In Nov 2012, Holmes wrote Eisenman, "Alan we have communicated about this multiple times before yet you choose to continue going down this path." He replied a lengthy email saying he didn't understand her email.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Prosecutor went through the WSJ's Sept 2013 article calling Theranos' tech a "breakthrough." Eisenman agrees the article reflects what he was told about Theranos' ability to revolutionize the industry, and he was never told the co used modified non-Theranos blood-testing devices.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Theranos sent an email to investors in Dec 2013 saying the co was scaling up and seeking another investor round. Eisenman thought it was good news, and it meant Theranos had proven itself.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Eisenman emailed Sunny Balwani that he was considering investing $1M. Balwani responded quickly and was available to talk anytime.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Eisenman says Balwani's tone was a 180-degree shift, bc Balwani had been "hostile" "for an extended period of time not only nonresponsive but also aggressive in his communication w/ me." Prosecutor asks if their relationship was "contentious." "That’s putting it mildly," he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Eisenman says despite his frustrations with Balwani and Holmes, he decided to invest in Theranos again, b/c he had a "seat at the table" as an early seed investor and thought he was getting shares at a discount.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

In Oct 2014, Eisenman emailed Balwani a report that said Theranos was take blood samples to Palo Alto to process them. Balwani replied "doesn’t surprise us. Sounds like an uninformed consultant." After Eisenman replied, Balwani told him to "please stop" emailing everyday.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

In April 2015, Eisenman wanted to liquidate his shares in Theranos b/c he was retiring and his daughter was buying a house. He wrote Holmes and Balwani an email with the subject titled "PLEASE RESPOND!!!”

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Eisenman noted that he had been an investor for 9 years: "It’s really unfair for you to play this cat and mouse game with me...I can’t make a rational decision to settle or hold my stock with the lack of info you have provided."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Balwani replied: "Your emails are insulting, full of inaccurate statements and wasteful of our time. Our next response to this email and all your future emails will come from our counsel." That was their last exchange and Eisenman never was able to sell his shares, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

The gov't wrapped direct and Kevin Downey is up for Holmes on cross. Downey notes that Eisenman's friend David Harris, who was Holmes' financial adviser, vouched for Holmes and recommended the startup to him in 2006.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Downey: Isn’t it true you only had one convo with Holmes before investing and it was a very brief convo? Eisenman says no. Downey points to Eisenman's email the day before his investment. He wrote he "chatted with [Holmes] for about 5 minutes. She seems like a terrific person."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Eisenman keeps talking over Downey and is getting noticeably upset. Downey showed him a GlaxoSmithKline contract w/ Theranos and Eisenman interrupts, "Can you show me a Pfizer and Bristol Myers contract because that’s also what she told me at the time?"

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Eisenman says he doesn't recall seeing the GlaxoSmithKline documents and asks if he was given it and the Pfizer and Bristol Myers documents before he invested. Downey tells the witness that's why we're here and they're trying to find that out. lol

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Alan Eisenman: "Can I ask you what a service frame agreement is?"

Holmes' counsel Kevin Downey: "No you may not."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Alan Eisenman says in his convos with Holmes in 2006 "the details weren’t discussed, just the names were discussed," and that Theranos was doing business with four pharma companies, but he acknowledges he doesn't remember reviewing any contracts.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Downey points out that Alan Eisenman went to law school and is a trained lawyer, but Eisenman says he studied tax law. Downey says, "ok, I think tax law counts, but you had legal training?" "Yes," he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Eisenman continues to talk over Downey and Judge Ed Davila repeatedly tells Eisenman that Downey is supposed to ask the questions and Eisenman is only supposed to respond to the attorney's q's.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Downey is pointing to provisions in Eisenman's Theranos investment contract. The provisions say his investments are speculative and there's no IPO guarantee. Eisenman called the contract language "boilerplate" & "what’s more important is the conversations with principles."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
52m

Downey asks Eisenman if he ever got an attorney to review his Theranos investment contracts when he became frustrated with the lack of information he was receiving about the company. "No, it was irrelevant," he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
49m

Before trial is recessing for the week, Downey impeaches Eisenman pointing to his prior deposition in which he acknowledged his contracts didn't give him any rights to Theranos info. With that we're breaking. Judge Davila notes next week "will be a full week," w/ trial everyday.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
46m

Prosecutor Jeff Schenk says the government might rest its case-in-chief next week (!!!) and if so, the government wants to know who Holmes will call first in her defense case.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
44m

Holmes' counsel agrees to tell prosecutors who the defense plans to call next week if the government rests its case-in-chief. That's all for now.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

A Theranos investor testified in Elizabeth Holmes' trial today that his request to liquidate investments in emails titled "PLEASE RESPOND!!!" were met with litigation threats from Holmes' then-romantic partner Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani. My recap from today!

Theranos Exec Threatened Investor With Litigation, Jury Told - Law360

 

[Niner]

snipped...
Hello from San Jose! It's the 30th (!) day of Elizabeth Holmes' criminal fraud trial.

I have Day 26 (for 11/10) - she must be counting the jury selection days....

 

[Seattle1]

I have Day 26 (for 11/10) - she must be counting the jury selection days....

Yes, any day a Judge is present counts as a trial day.

 

[Niner]

Yes, any day a Judge is present counts as a trial day.

Okay - I thought I was off.... Thanks!

 

[Seattle1]

Okay - I thought I was off.... Thanks!

I think the count has something to do with the court calendar. (And you and I both know how some Judges are very protective of "the calendar")...

 

[Niner]

Monday, Nov. 15th:
*Trial continues (Day 27) (@ 9am 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. Trial dates: 11/15, 11/16, 11/17, 11/18, 11/19, 11/22, 11/23, 11/24, 11/29, 11/30, 12/3 so far.
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 1-25) 9/8/21 to 11/9/21 & motions hearing on 11/8/21 reference post #780 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
11/10/21 Wednesday, Trial Day 26: Government witnesses: Dr. Kingshuk Das, former lab director. On cross continued by defense attorney Lance Wade. Prosecutor Robert Leach on redirect. And recross by Wade.
for more info see posts #783, 785 & 787 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Retired money manager Alan Eisenman. Eisenman says he first invested in Theranos in 2006 & it was his first biotech investment. Prosecutor John Bostic on direct. Defense attorney Kevin Downey on cross.
for more info see posts #788, 790 to 793 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
The government assistant U.S. attorney Jeffrey Schenk said Wednesday that it would likely rest its case next week. Trial will continue on Monday, 11/15/21 @ 9am.
*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.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Good morning from San Jose! It's day 31 in Elizabeth Holmes' criminal fraud trial. Judge Ed Davila is on the bench. He says we'll be going until 1 p.m. with Holmes' counsel continuing the cross examination of investor Alan Eisenman.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

The parties are arguing over whether the defense can ask Eisenman about a 20-year-old fine that the witness was hit with related to securities trading. The judge agrees w/ the gov't that the fine shouldn't be mentioned to the jury.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

The jury is in the courtroom and Theranos investor Alan Eisenman is back on the stand. Holmes' counsel Kevin Downey is up to continue Eisenman's cross-exam. He pulls up Eisenman's May 2010 email with Holmes.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Downey says before his May 2010 email, Holmes told him the co was entering deals w/ retailers. Downey asks if she mentioned an equity offering. Eisenman says no but Holmes "was talking about an IPO year after year after year.. She was hinting there was an IPO around the corner."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Eisenman acknowledges that he hadn't reviewed any Theranos contract w/ retailers that included restrictions, and he admits cos making equity offerings may have to limit what info they share w/ investors, but he says repeatedly that he didn't know Theranos was making an offering.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

In July 2010, Holmes wrote Eisenman: "Alan, your continued daily calls and emails after we’ve already told you multiple times that we do not have additional information we can disclose beyond what we’ve already shared with David are upsetting to us.."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Holmes' counsel asks Eisenman if he understood Holmes was frustrated b/c he kept asking for insider info she already said she couldn't share with him.

Eisenman: No, I thought she was hiding information that should be disclosed to an investor.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

In Sept 2010, Eisenman emailed Holmes asking her why Larry Ellison was removed as a board member from Theranos' website. Holmes replied to him "per our call there is no new info to be shared with our investor base."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

In Feb 2011, Eisenman asked for a quarterly update. Sunny Balwani replied that Theranos didn't give quarterly updates. Eisenman wrote back "I understand you don’t have an obligation to update use but I would appreciate" another call. Balwani replied there's no new info.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

In 2012, Eisenman emailed Theranos chairman Don Lucas asking for more info on the co. Lucas' assistant replied saying Don didn't have any additional info for him, but they recommended he continue following the co in news articles.