CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

In one exchange about Balwani's negotiation with getting Theranos in CVS stores, Balwani tells Holmes that "They are all lemmings, they only want if other want it." ("They" here presumably refers to CVS and Walgreens.)

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

In another text, Balwani says "we don’t want 1,000 stores with assholes 200 will be enough to prove our point."

Holmes: "I know."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

In one exchange Balwani says he's "worried about the FDA and CMS," and Holmes says @jimcramer "wants exclusive no other tv." She told Rupert Murdoch she didn’t want to talk b/c accusations re patents and the "death and sex thing" (It's very unclear what that means.)

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Balwani told Holmes: "I wouldn’t open up [your] personal life ... b/c enough people on Twitter will think there’s something there. It’s filth."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

In another text Balwani tells Holmes Walgreens' lawyers told Walgreens "not to talk to us... in so many words."

Holmes: "wow."

Balwani: "It is going to be a very difficult 12 months."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Balwani wrote Holmes: "Our CLIA lab failed mpv pt at all five levels. Just figured it out dealing with it...Miss old days. These days are not worth whatever we are trying to do here." He adds later he'll put forward facts and "I am strong on facts."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Balwani wrote Holmes "Ok [Walgreens] freaking out. Lack of transparency why they found this all out thru media and not thru us. I told them we were surprised by the [WSJ] article as much they are."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Holmes re. Walgreens: How long has it been that we didn’t tell them?

Balwani: 3-4 weeks

Holmes: I’m trying to remember what our thinking was on that

Balwani: None we just didn’t tell them thinking under new model this doesn’t matter

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Prosecutors clarify that the texts occurred between March 2015 and Oct 2015. Trial is now taking a 25 minute break (for all of us to try to make sense of those dang texts).

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

The jury's back. Kevin Downey is up for Holmes on cross. He starts by getting Jhaveri to acknowledge he wasn't directly involved in Walgreens' negotiations with Theranos.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Holmes' counsel gets Jhaveri acknowledges that he wasn't involved in evaluating Theranos' technology for Walgreens and he "had very little contact with Ms. Holmes. I met with Ms. Holmes maybe two or three times at most."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Holmes' counsel points to ex-Walgreens CFO Wade Miquelon's Sept 2013 email to Holmes, which stated that Walgreens was committed to rolling out Theranos services in 3k stores over two years.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Jhaveri acknowledges that he is not aware Walgreens ever had a specific agreement with Theranos that the blood tests would not be drawn venously. He was also aware of Walgreens paid Theranos a $100 million "innovation fee."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' counsel points out Walgreens' financial outlook projected its Theranos revenues would grow from $277,000 in FY 2014 to $181.42 million in FY 2020. He also agreed that Theranos paid the costs of hiring phlebotomists.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' atty shows a March 2014 Walgreens slide that says "key program risks" include obtaining regulatory approval and driving patient traffic to use Theranos' services. He notes it doesn't include venous blood draws, even though many at Walgreens knew about the draws.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Jhaveri says Walgreens received positive feedback from Theranos patients and "generally speaking, the experience was good." He agrees that patients didn't report concerns re venous draws. Defense counsel points to Jan 2015 survey results that showed patients gave it ~4.8/5.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' counsel asks Jhaveri if patients can get blood tests in Walgreens today. Jhaveri replies that thinks they do, but he's not at Walgreens and doesn't know for sure. Defense counsel says Labcorp offers venous blood-tests in some Walgreens stores.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' counsel asks Jhaveri if he knew that Theranos was pursuing a partnership with CVS. He says he knew Theranos had spoken to many companies in 2010 about potential partnerships, but he didn't know that Theranos was pursuing a partnership with CVS in 2015.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' atty shows Jhaveri's email to Holmes after she was on the cover of Fortune Mag: “This is great - congratulations! I want an autographed copy! I am sure Sunny and Christian are keeping you in the loop. Teams are working well together and a lot of progress is being made."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Defense counsel wrapped with Jhaveri and trial is taking a 20 minute break.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Just took some ibuprofen in preparation for the hearing before Judge Cousins on motions by @JohnCarreyrou and @rparloff that's about to start. I'll be watching that on Zoom while viewing Jhaveri's redirect on the tv in the overflow room I guess.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Jhaveri is back on the stand in trial. Meanwhile, the hearing has started with Judge Cousins apologizing to the attorneys for scheduling the hearing during trial. "It was not my intention to order you to be two places at once," he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Cousins starts with @JohnCarreyrou's request for an exception to Judge Davila's order so that he's allowed to be in the courtroom to cover Holmes' trial even though he may be called to testify.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Cousins says "I don’t think there’s much skin in the game for the prosecution," b/c the feds are ok w/ considering @johnCarreyrou an expert and allowing him to observe trial. But Holmes' counsel wants him kept out of court.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Cousins notes that "I have not been following Mr. Carreyrou’s podcast," but he knows he's been reporting during trial "So what’s the need for the request at the moment, if he’s been able to do his First Amendment reporting activities?" "Why not keep status quo?"

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Carreyrou's counsel replies that "we just want to make sure" that his client is allowed to be in court and cover the trial, b/c case law says reporters can't be excluded witnesses "just for doing their job" and "we're not asking for anything extraordinary at all."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Carreyrou's attorney tells the judge that any subpoena from Elizabeth Holmes issued to @JohnCarreyrou "would be bad faith and would be harassing." It would show Holmes has "bad feelings" toward Carreyrou b/c he's been dogged in his coverage of Theranos.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Meanwhile back in the trial, prosecutor is showing the witness a picture of Elizabeth Holmes on the cover of Fortune Magazine by Roger Parloff...

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

@JohnCarreryou's counsel says he understands that @rparloff is cooperating w/ the federal gov't but Carreyrou would object to a subpoena regardless of which party tried to subpoena him.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Cousins asks @JohnCarreyrou's counsel what if his client knows more than everyone else and maybe he deserves to be a witness. His counsel replies that "he def knows a lot about this case, there’s no question about it," but he has no percipient knowledge of the facts.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Holmes' counsel John Klein says John Carreyrou's name is "woven through this case," and the defense doesn't know yet if they will call him as a witness yet.
Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Klein says one example of why they may call John Carreryou is b/c he was "peppering" CMS with requests about Theranos and some of CMS' questions for Theranos that may come into the record may stem "in part by the pressure Mr. Carreryrou was exerting."

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Klein says @johnCarreyrou can also "very easily find himself on the witness list" if the government introduces a Mad Money CNBC segment that Holmes appeared on. "Mr. Carreyrou is right at the heart of significant issues in this case," and he's not being singled out, Klein says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Back at the trial, Jhaveri's examination has wrapped and ex-Theranos lab director Sunil Dhawan is on the stand. Dhawan was Balwani's dermatologist and wrote him an email in Nov 2014 that they needed a Theranos lab director and "the time commitment is very minimal."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

John Carreyrou's attorney says Holmes' CMS argument just shows Carreyrou was "doing what professional reporters do" in asking questions, and at the Wall Street Journal was just him doing his job.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Ooof, Holmes' counsel is John Cline*, not Klein. Cline acknowledges that this is a hardship for John Carreryrou but he notes that Holmes' father may be a witness and so he's had to stay out of his own daughter's trial, even though he wants to be in court.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Cousins grants @JohnCarreyrou motion to be excluded from a pretrial order barring him and other potential fact witnesses from watching Holmes' trial. He says "pragmatically it's fair to treat him as an expert" b/c if he testifies, he'll be testifying on what others said.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Cousins also notes that he's not imposing any additional restrictions around questioning@JohnCarreyrou if he is called as a witness, b/c those issues are premature and speculative at this point. Judge Cousins is taking a break before the @rparloff motion.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Meanwhile back in the trial, Dhawan says he was hired as a consultant to serve as Theranos' lab director in November 2014 and he only worked 5-10 hours in total for $5,000 monthly. Balwani told him the time commitment was "very minimal."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Cousins is back for @rparloff's motion to quash a subpoena. Holmes' counsel says they want to subpoena Parloff's notes so that the defense can rebut prosecutors' evidence on how he prepared for the Fortune article on Holmes to show he wasn't misled by Holmes.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Cline says he doesn't think reporter's privilege plays into this at all and says the notes will show that any errors @rparloff made in his Fortune article were his own and not Holmes' alleged misstatements.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Back at the trial, prosecutors point to emails in which Sunny Balwani asked Dhawan to sign about "300 SOPs" -standard operating procedures - in Sept 2015. Dhawan agreed to sign the docs and others.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Dhawan says he signed the docs in part bc he was "comforted" by the signature of ex-Theranos' former lab director Dr. Adam Rosendorff, who had previously signed the docs. He says he was never showed "critical values" for certain reports.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

"Rosendorff's signature provided comfort to me - gave me some reassurance there had been some supervision before my arrival," Dhawan says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

In Sept 2015, Balwani told Dhawan that there was a lab inspection at Theranos & Balwani asked Dhawan if he could be present "for at least the first part of it." "I have a v capable team that has taken care of all the details as always..to make sure lab is flawless," Balwani said

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Although Dhawan was Theranos' lab director starting in Nov 2015, he says he never met Elizabeth Holmes until Sept 2015 during Theranos' lab inspection. The gov't notes that in Sept 2015, Theranos sent Dhawan a job offer w/ a starting date of June 1 2015.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Feds show Sep 2015 text exchanges w/ Balwani during the inspection. Balwani wrote “v hostile so far. They say have complaints" and later "going bad so far. Pray." Holmes replied "Praying at my desk.." and later "praying continually." Dhawan said he didn't know they were praying.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

In an Oct 2015 email, Balwani wrote Dhawan: "Thanks for the help and sticking by" ..."don't answer any questions as they will trap you or misquote you. We are trying to get on top of the situation and release our statements to refute the falsehoods but this statement take time."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Feds wrapped Dhawan's direct. Back before Judge Cousins, Roger Parloff's counsel says Parloff can talk about his discussions with Elizabeth Holmes, but not about anything else b/c the trial isn't about Parloff's state of mind and many of the notes Holmes wants don't exist.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Prosecutors note that the only communications the gov't requested from @rparloff involved Holmes but not others. Parloff's counsel also points out that he provided both parties w/ the entire transcript of his interview w/ Holmes.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Judge Cousins grants @rparloff's motion to quash Elizabeth Holmes' subpoena demanding Parloff's reporting notes. The judge says Holmes is "fishing" and speculating about what they may get from Parloff, but that's not sufficient for such a subpoena and it could prolong trial.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Meanwhile, trial before Judge Davila just wrapped for the day, with Holmes' counsel Lance Wade noting that Judge Davila is wearing an orange tie, although it's not Halloween. "Go Giants!" he says.

 

[mickey2942]

The Elizabeth Holmes trial: Another sucker takes the stand

Sort of like the headline here..."Another Sucker...". Noted, they are all older men. ET must weave a spell to charm men out of so much cash.

 

[Niner]

Friday, October 15th:
*Trial continues (Day 16) (@ 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 (2 men & 3 women). Juror #7 excused & replaced with alternate #1. Now jurors are 8 men & 4 women. Alternates 1 man & 3 women. 10/6/21: Juror #4 excused & replace with alternate #2. Now jurors are 8 men & 4 women. Alternates 1 man & 2 women.
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; trial dates 10/15, 10/19, 10/20, 10/22, 10/26, 10/27, 10/29, 11/2, 11/3, 11/5, 11/9, 11/10, 11/12, 11/16, 11/17, 11/19, 11/23, 11/24 so far. Intervenor’s motions hearing on 9/30/21. Motions hearing re misc. relief on 10/18/21. Motions hearing on 10/18/21 was cancelled.
Indictment & court info from 4/11/20 thru 8/26/21 & jury selection (Day 1-3) 8/31/21 to 9/2/21 & trial (Day 1-14) 9/8/21 to 10/13/21 & motions hearing on 9/30/21 reference post #657 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Additional witness for 10/13/21: NY Federal Reserve Bank deputy chief investigator Robert Amenta on direct.
for more info see post #658 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
The screens in the jury box stopped working so the judge decided to just break for the day. Both sides say they only have ~20 mins with Amenta & the next witness is Walgreens exec Nimesh Jhaveri, who probably won't take all day, so there'll be a 3rd witness tomorrow.
10/14/21 Thursday, Trial Day 15: In addition to a full day of witness testimony, Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins will be holding hearings on separate motions by John Carreyrou & Roger Parloff at 1:30pm.
The parties turned to arguing over Holmes' request to limit certain testimony from the third witness called today, ex-Theranos lab director Sunil Dhawan & a letter with certain CMS findings on Theranos. Prosecutors say it's relevant & fair game. Judge Davila says he can hold off today on deciding whether he'll admit the letter to see where testimony goes.
for more info see post #659 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Government witnesses: NY Federal Reserve Bank deputy chief investigator Robert Amenta about $$$ wire transfers made to Theranos back on the stand on direct. Ex-Walgreens exec Nimesh Jhaveri, who worked for the company for 29 years.
for more info see posts #659 & 660 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Ex-Walgreens exec Nimesh Jhaveri continued.
for more info see posts #661 & 662 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Judge Cousins starts with John Carreyrou's request for an exception to Judge Davila's order so that he's allowed to be in the courtroom to cover Holmes' trial even though he may be called to testify. Judge Cousins grants John Carreyrou motion to be excluded from a pretrial order barring him & other potential fact witnesses from watching Holmes' trial. Judge Cousins is taking a break before the Roger Parloff motion.
for more info see posts #663 & 664 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Government witness: ex-Theranos lab director Sunil Dhawan & was also Balwani's dermatologist.
for more info see posts #664 & 665 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Judge Cousins is taking a break before the Roger Parloff motion.
for more info see post #664 & 665 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Trial continues on 10/15/21.
*Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (53/now 56) (CFO & President of Theranos) – Motion hearing on 9/30/21 which was cancelled & trial set to begin on 1/11/22 with jury selection & trial starts on 1/18/22. No update as of 10/15/21.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

A couple of tweets that came through late last night.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
16h

Reporting privilege and @JohnCarreyrou's WSJ stories took center stage in Elizabeth Holmes' criminal fraud trial today, along with a few panic-fueled text messages b/w Holmes and her former partner Sunny Balwani. Here's my reader-friendly, typo-free recap.

Holmes Prayed As WSJ Reporter Raised Doubts, Jury Told - Law360

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
15h

Can’t wait until tmr morning to hear what Judge Davila thinks about that strike.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

We're back for a short-ish day in Elizabeth Holmes' criminal fraud trial. Judge Davila is on the bench. Holmes' counsel wants the judge to exclude certain communications w/ the military, but prosecutor John Bostic says they're "inextricably intertwined" w/ the alleged fraud here.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Replying to @doratki

Bostic says Holmes "had to get [investors] on the hook, if you will" and she did that by telling them the military was partnered w/ Theranos, even though she knew that the deal w/ the military "wasn't likely to get off the ground."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Defense counsel says the communications at issue is a PowerPoint presentation that Theranos gave to the military in 2012, but those representations have "nothing to do w/ the allegations" related to investor fraud.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

The parties are also arguing over another communication w/ a lieutenant colonel. The judge says he doesn't know what the context is, so the doc may come in depending on testimony. It sounds like Daniel Edlin, an ex-senior project manager at Theranos, will take the stand today.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
4h

Judge Davila says he got an email from a juror who overslept so trial won't start until 9:30. "I presume he obeys all of the speed laws. Perhaps he was watching some terrible TV show last night."

Defense atty: Our condolences, your honor.

Judge: There is no joy in Mudville.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

While we wait, here's the Casey at Bat poem that Judge Davila referenced this morning.

Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer - Poems | poets.org

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

And we're back! The jury is in the courtroom. Judge Davila is on the bench and ex-Theranos lab director Sunil Dhawan, who was Balwani's dermatologist when Theranos hired him as a consultant and lab director in 2014, is on the stand for cross.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' counsel Lance Wade points out that Dr. Lynette Sawyer signed Theranos' validation reports in early 2015 and appeared to be serving as Theranos' lab director. Dhawan says yes, "Based on signatures, that’s all I can tell you."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade tries to get Dhawan to acknowledge that the reason he wasn't asked to review Theranos' lab policies until Aug 2015 is b/c Dr. Sawyer was serving as its lab director. Dhawan replies "I was never made aware that she was doing that previously."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' counsel points out that as lab director Dhawan could delegate job duties to different full-time Theranos workers "b/c you can't be there everyday to perform these functions." He agrees.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Dhawan agrees he was relying on the work of others when he signed Theranos' validation reports as lab director in September 2015 and he had no reason to doubt the work. Wade also emphasizes that Balwani was his boss and was responsible for hiring and firing lab members.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade pulls up Balwani's Sept 9 2015 email in which Balwani asked Dhawan to attend Theranos' biennial lab audit. Balwani wrote the lab is "flawless and audit ready," "I don't anticipate any hiccups" and he would "personally walk you through all the latest updates w/ our team."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Dhawan said he understood Balwani's email to be saying that Balwani didn't anticipate any issues would come up during the lab inspection.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade asks Dhawan if he was told at the time of the lab inspection that reporters were making inquiries into CMS. "It was repeatedly said that they [ie. Theranos] were under scrutiny, that was basically my understanding," he replies.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade asks Dhawan if he was told when he was at Theranos that there is "a particular reporter who was on a crusade against the company." Dhawan replies "I didn’t hear that specific statement."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade asks if Dhawan heard a reporter claimed he wasn't legally qualified to serve as a lab director. Dhawan says "I don’t remember hearing about that."

Wade: Are you legally qualified to serve as lab director?

Dhawan: I have the degrees yes and meet the statutory requirements.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade wraps cross. Prosecutor is up for redirect and gets Dhawan to acknowledge that his lab in his private practice has only 2-3 people who he supervises, and Theranos' lab had "significantly" more employees.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Dhawan acknowledges that he speaks to his 2 employees at his private practice lab 6-8 times a day, because "I have to." Prosecutor asks if his lab does less complicated tests than Theranos' tests. "Yes," Dhawan says.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Dhawan acknowledges that it was unusual that a CFO (ie. Balwani) worked in the lab, and he says he didn't check the prior lab director's work. "I didn’t think I had to. My assumption was that people with such advanced degrees like mine were making accurate [representations]."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Dhawan says he never had the opportunity to inspect Theranos' blood-testing devices and he would not know if the lab wasn't following Theranos' SOP, (standard operating lab procedures).

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Trial is taking a 30 min break, but after the jury left the courtroom, defense counsel tells the judge he's "deeply troubled" by prosecutors' q's that suggest the data wasn't accurate and there's some "underlying integrity issue w/ the data" when the data wasn't falsified.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Prosecutor Jeff Schenk says his q's about the data were trying to show that Dr. Dhawan never reviewed the data underlying the validations reports he signed, and he wasn't trying to show the data itself was falsified.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Wade notes that suggesting the data was falsified "has obvious prejudicial implications for our client" and he just wants to raise the issue so "we're all aware of it" and it doesn't come up w/ other witnesses. On a break now.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Davila is on the bench. He says he received a note from a juror who said her mother-in-law just passed away and it was "sudden news." The juror may have to travel to the midwest, but she doesn't know details yet.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Davila says while they're on the topic, he has a dear friend who hired him in his first job as a public defender and who is critically ill now.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Davila says his friend "probably won’t make it much longer," and that may cause another break in the trial, b/c "if there is a memorial service I would like to attend." They're bringing in the jury now.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Prosecutors call to the stand Daniel Edlin, an ex-senior project manager at Theranos. He worked there from 2011 to 2016 and he 1st reported to Christian Holmes. He worked on the Walgreens partnership, marketing and he worked directly with Elizabeth on military and pharma cos.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Edlin says he was promoted in 2014 but he quit in 2016, about a year after @JohnCarreyrou's WSJ Theranos articles were first published. He says he wanted to go to business school, which he did, and "I no longer believed that the company was capable of standing behind [its tech]."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Edlin says when he was hired in September 2011 as senior project manager, four other college friends were hired for the same position as well, and a few years later two other college friends, including project manager Max Fosque were hired.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Edlin says over time he eventually began meeting with Holmes on a daily basis, and "She was in the office all the time really, from early morning until late in the evening" and on the weekends.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Edlin says Balwani and Holmes told him and other team members not to share information between teams and they should operate on a "need to know" basis. He says except for Holmes and Balwani, no one knew everything and everyone at Theranos was subject to the restriction.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Edlin says he didn't know in 2013 and 2014 that Theranos was using modified non-Theranos devices to do fingerstick bloodtests. He didn't learn that until 2016, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Edlin says he conducted trainings for Walgreens staff who worked with Theranos' technology and he would give tours around Theranos and the R&D lab, but not the clinical lab. Tours required approval from Holmes and Balwani, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Edlin says during the tour, visitors would be taken to a demo room w/ Theranos' minilab blood-testing devices that had touch screens and cartridges. He worked w/ Daniel Young to bring in the minilabs and then remove them after the demos. He thought they weren't used on patients.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Edlin says he would tell Theranos' engineering and lab team so they were "on notice" that a demo was scheduled. "VIPs" and potential investors were among the visitors who were given the demo, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Feds point to an Aug 2013 email Edlin sent that they need to set up minilabs for a demo for executives. Plan A was to have the minilabs run "null protocols" and plan B was to "run CBCs."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Michael Craig replied to Edlin's email suggesting they use the "demo app" on the devices, which "shields protocol failures from the client." Edlin said, "Never a bad thing. Let’s go with demo, thanks." Trial is breaking for the day.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Trial recessed for the week with the judge noting that there "might be something precious called 'rain' this weekend." We'll be back here Tuesday morning.

0ut.

 

[LinasK]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

And we're back! The jury is in the courtroom. Judge Davila is on the bench and ex-Theranos lab director Sunil Dhawan, who was Balwani's dermatologist when Theranos hired him as a consultant and lab director in 2014, is on the stand for cross.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' counsel Lance Wade points out that Dr. Lynette Sawyer signed Theranos' validation reports in early 2015 and appeared to be serving as Theranos' lab director. Dhawan says yes, "Based on signatures, that’s all I can tell you."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade tries to get Dhawan to acknowledge that the reason he wasn't asked to review Theranos' lab policies until Aug 2015 is b/c Dr. Sawyer was serving as its lab director. Dhawan replies "I was never made aware that she was doing that previously."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Holmes' counsel points out that as lab director Dhawan could delegate job duties to different full-time Theranos workers "b/c you can't be there everyday to perform these functions." He agrees.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Dhawan agrees he was relying on the work of others when he signed Theranos' validation reports as lab director in September 2015 and he had no reason to doubt the work. Wade also emphasizes that Balwani was his boss and was responsible for hiring and firing lab members.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade pulls up Balwani's Sept 9 2015 email in which Balwani asked Dhawan to attend Theranos' biennial lab audit. Balwani wrote the lab is "flawless and audit ready," "I don't anticipate any hiccups" and he would "personally walk you through all the latest updates w/ our team."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Dhawan said he understood Balwani's email to be saying that Balwani didn't anticipate any issues would come up during the lab inspection.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade asks Dhawan if he was told at the time of the lab inspection that reporters were making inquiries into CMS. "It was repeatedly said that they [ie. Theranos] were under scrutiny, that was basically my understanding," he replies.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade asks Dhawan if he was told when he was at Theranos that there is "a particular reporter who was on a crusade against the company." Dhawan replies "I didn’t hear that specific statement."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade asks if Dhawan heard a reporter claimed he wasn't legally qualified to serve as a lab director. Dhawan says "I don’t remember hearing about that."

Wade: Are you legally qualified to serve as lab director?

Dhawan: I have the degrees yes and meet the statutory requirements.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Wade wraps cross. Prosecutor is up for redirect and gets Dhawan to acknowledge that his lab in his private practice has only 2-3 people who he supervises, and Theranos' lab had "significantly" more employees.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
3h

Dhawan acknowledges that he speaks to his 2 employees at his private practice lab 6-8 times a day, because "I have to." Prosecutor asks if his lab does less complicated tests than Theranos' tests. "Yes," Dhawan says.

So it's sounding to me like Balwani just wanted the Dermatologist to blank-check sign off on stuff and the guy just assumed that everything was above board. Why exactly is a Dermatologist qualified to be a Lab Director???

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
16m

Heading into the weekend, the jury considering criminal fraud charges against Elizabeth Holmes heard that on at least one occasion investors were shown blood-testing demos programmed to shield protocol failures. Here's my recap from today.

Theranos' Test Demo Hid Failures From Investors, Jury Told - Law360

 

[Hoosgirl]

Thank you so much for the tweets @UndiscoveredTruth! Following along. Seems like they are building the case slowly but surely. It will be interesting for sure when it is the defense's turn.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Thank you so much for the tweets @UndiscoveredTruth! Following along. Seems like they are building the case slowly but surely. It will be interesting for sure when it is the defense's turn.

You're most welcome, Hoosgirl. Will be very interesting indeed.... bring on Tuesday already.

 

[Niner]

Tuesday, October 19th:
*Trial continues (Day 17) (@ 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 (2 men & 3 women). Juror #7 excused & replaced with alternate #1. Now jurors are 8 men & 4 women. Alternates 1 man & 3 women. 10/6/21: Juror #4 excused & replace with alternate #2. Now jurors are 8 men & 4 women. Alternates 1 man & 2 women.
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; trial dates 10/19, 10/20, 10/22, 10/26, 10/27, 10/29, 11/2, 11/3, 11/5, 11/9, 11/10, 11/12, 11/16, 11/17, 11/19, 11/23, 11/24, 11/30 so far.
Indictment & court info from 4/11/20 thru 8/26/21 & jury selection (Day 1-3) 8/31/21 to 9/2/21 & trial (Day 1-15) 9/8/21 to 10/14/21 & motions hearing on 9/30/21 reference post #667 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
10/15/21 Friday, Trial Day 16: Judge Davila is on the bench. Holmes' counsel wants the judge to exclude certain communications w/ the military, but prosecutor John Bostic says they're "inextricably intertwined" w/ the alleged fraud here.
For more info see post #669 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Judge Davila says he got an email from a juror who overslept so trial won't start until 9:30.
Government witnesses: Ex-Theranos lab director Sunil Dhawan, who was Balwani's dermatologist when Theranos hired him as a consultant & lab director in 2014, is on the stand for cross. Holmes' counsel Lance Wade on cross & Prosecutor Jeff Schenk on redirect.
For more info see posts #670 & 671 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Judge Davila is on the bench. He says he received a note from a juror who said her mother-in-law just passed away & it was "sudden news." The juror may have to travel to the Midwest, but she doesn't know details yet. Judge Davila says while they're on the topic, he has a dear friend who hired him in his first job as a public defender & who is critically ill now. He says his friend "probably won’t make it much longer," and that may cause another break in the trial, because "if there is a memorial service I would like to attend."
Daniel Edlin, an ex-senior project manager at Theranos.
For more info see posts #672 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Trial continues on Tuesday, 10/19/21.
*Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (53/now 56) (CFO & President of Theranos) – Motion hearing on 9/30/21 which was cancelled & trial set to begin on 1/11/22 with jury selection & trial starts on 1/18/22. No update as of 10/19/21.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Good morning from San Jose! Today marks the sixth week of Elizabeth Holmes' criminal fraud trial (more or less, depending on when you start counting) and we're (hopefully) about half-way through this thing. Holmes is in the courtroom.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Replying to @doratki

Judge Davila is on the bench. He says 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.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Holmes' counsel asks the judge to bar prosecutors from asking ex-Pfizer scientist Shane Weber about an internal Pfizer document that didn't go to "Holmes or Theranos at all." The doc doesn't evaluate Theranos' tech, but it also doesn't recommend Pfizer do biz w/ the startup.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Prosecutor Robert Leach says Weber's doc is highly probative of the alleged falsity of Holmes' statements. "Yes these are harsh words, but these are words he thought in the moment," Leach says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Leach notes that Pfizer thought Holmes' "answers were deflective, evasive and not informative and they memorialized that" in the doc. He adds that "I understand it sounds forceful," and the gov won't suggest that Holmes saw the doc, "but the ‘why’ here is critical" to falsity.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Judge Davila notes that they probably won't get to this witness today, so he held off on ruling about excluding the Pfizer doc. Another issue: Holmes' counsel wants to exclude Holmes' presentations to the DOD and military.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Holmes' atty says the presentations are 18 months before the alleged investor fraud, and the gov't didn't allege DOD was a biz partner w/ Theranos for the fraud charges. Prosecutor John Bostic says the presentations are relevant to Holmes' alleged misrepresentations to investors.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

The judge holds off on ruling on the DOD evidentiary objection too. Holmes' atty has one more issue: Prosecutors want to show jurors a spreadsheet sent to Balwani that includes a log of ~150 patient complaints as of Sept 2015, despite a pretrial order excluding the evidence.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Prosecutor John Bostic says the patient complaint log is relevant to claims Theranos was making at the time that its tests were getting positive reviews. But defense counsel says the log isn't a biz record, it's compiled from multiple sources, many which are hearsay.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
2h

Defense counsel says Holmes also never received the patient complaint log, but prosecutor says the log was directly sent to her alleged co-conspirator Balwani. The judge notes that that is a "different issue, isn't it?" Defense counsel agrees. The judge holds off on ruling.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

The jury is back in the courtroom and ex-Theranos project manager Daniel Edlin is on the stand. Prosecutor John Bostic is up. We're still on direct. Bostic shows Edlin an email he sent to Balwani and Holmes in 2013 about a testing device 'stuck on 99%' for 8 mins during a demo.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Prosecutor points to another 2013 email in which Edlin said there were "some discrepancy b/w two infection panel runs" done for the same patient and the same assay on a Theranos' device. Theranos VP Daniel Young couldn't explain the discrepancy and looped in Elizabeth Holmes.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Prosecutor points to another email chain in which Theranos VP Daniel Young tells Balwani that they weren't planning running anything on the minilab devices, b/c "the general chemistry of assays are not performing." Balwani replies "very frustrating."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

In various 2013 emails, which Holmes was included on, Young told Edlin to remove multiple blood-test results or to change certain results during the device demos. Edlin says he didn't have the expertise to judge Young's decisions to remove or change the data.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Ex-Theranos project manager Daniel Edlin emailed lab staff in Aug 2013 asking them to meet in the lab "for the hand off" so the lab could process six fingerstick samples from Walgreens execs. He says he doesn't know if the execs knew their samples were processed in the lab.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

During a journalist's visit in Aug 2013, Edlin wrote Theranos' lab "for this demo we need to turn around these results faster than ever before ideally in 1 hour and no longer than 2 hours." He explains the demo happened mid-day as opposed to end-of-the-day.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

A month before Theranos' commercial launch, Dan Edlin wrote Balwani that the devices' thyroid panel "appears to have had major issues again." Balwani responds "To say this is deeply disappointing would be a gross understatement.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

In a Jan 6 2015 email, Elizabeth Holmes wrote Rupert Murdoch “it was wonderful to have you here today. I so look forward to the opportunity to continue our conversations, including one day a more detailed conversation on China. It would be an honor to have you be part of our co."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Rupert Murdoch replied the next day to Elizabeth Holmes: "Thanks Elizabeth. Enjoyed every minute of it. Any blood results? See you soon, Rupert."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Edlin says he helped prepare a binder of investor information for Rupert Murdoch. When asked who Murdoch is, Edlin says he doesn't know his exact title, but he's the "chairman of Fox."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Edlin's Jan 2015 email about Rupert Murdoch's Theranos test results says "ISEs are a bit low" and "is there any way for us to validate lipids in the future via some sort of formula?" Edlin notes they can't rerun the tests b/c they didn't draw a lot of blood from Murdoch.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

In a Dec 2015 email, Christian Holmes tells his sister Elizabeth that a Forbes writer was "pleasant in person" but he "plans on writing about his experience." Another email says the writer's blood-test results were inconclusive and it wasn't human error.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Elizabeth tells her brother to tell the Forbes writer: "You can say we do run those assays, but were not able to run them on this sample, apparently due to a human error in sample handling. Invite him back."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

During prepping an assay list for the Celgene clinical trial, Daniel Young told Edlin "we should not distinguish if we are using Theranos devices/chemistry or kits. We can just star some assays as one that will be run in the Theranos CLIA lab." Holmes signed off on the list.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Edlin says Holmes was "very involved and detailed oriented" in approving Theranos' marketing and there were "steps along the way" in which she may have been left out of communications, "But for stuff that went on the website, she did look at that."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

In Sept 2013, Theranos spokesperson Jeffrey Blickman wrote they should change its website that said Theranos "can perform all lab tests on a sample 1/1,000 the size of a typical blood draw" b/c he said "We often use more than one drop." He suggested "a few drops is all it take."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Prosecutor points out that the website language never changed. Theranos attorney Kate Beardsley also wrote that the language on Theranos' draft website should change for many reasons listed in a four-page email.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Beardlsey wrote "please remove ‘all tests' and replace w/ ‘multiple or several,'" because "it is highly unlikely that the lab can perform every conceivable test, both from a logistical standpoint and b/c the CLIA cert designates specific specialties of tests the lab performs."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki
1h

Holmes replied to Beardsley's email stating "They should not use the world 'unrivaled in accuracy' as we’ve discussed many times." We're breaking. Brb in ~40 min.