Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes's arguments for new trial deemed spurious – just like her tech
- Reference: 1668036785
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/11/09/theranos_holmes_trial/
- Source link:
In January 2022, Holmes, 38, was [1]convicted on charges of wire fraud and defrauding investors. Her lawyers, however, argued she deserved a fresh trial when key witness Adam Rosendorff, former lab director at Theranos, showed up at Holmes's house and admitted "he felt that he had done something wrong, apparently in connection with [her] trial" according to [2]court documents [PDF].
Rosendorff told Holmes's partner William "Billy" Evans that he thought everyone at Theranos had worked hard and hinted at potential government misconduct in the trial. Holmes filed three separate requests for a new trial.
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"Dr Rosendorff's statements reflecting his concerns with the government's presentation of his trial testimony, along with his comments that bear on Ms Holmes' intent, put the integrity of the jury verdict against Ms Holmes in grave doubt. The Court should grant a new trial or, at the very least, order an evidentiary hearing," the convicted fraudster's lawyers argued.
[4]
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Rosendorff was pressed further about his comments to Evans last month, and disputed the idea of government misconduct. He said he believed the government's investigation was comprehensive and had not cherry-picked evidence to support the case against Holmes.
[6]Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes found guilty of fraud: Blood-testing machines were vapourware after all
[7]COO of failed bio-biz Theranos found guilty on all twelve fraud counts
[8]Theranos' Holmes admits she slapped Big Pharma logos on lab reports to boost her biz
[9]Theranos blood-test machine demos for VIPs rigged to hide any failures, court told
District Judge Edward Davila later [10]ruled [PDF] "the statements Dr Rosendorff made to Mr Evans do not stand for any of the proposed meanings that Defendant would want and, even if they did, they would not be material to the issues at trial or otherwise non-cumulative" and denied Holmes's request for a new trial.
Holmes claimed Theranos's COO and ex-boyfriend Sunny Balwani influenced her work, and psychologically and sexually abused her during their relationship as part of her defense. Her lawyers tried to argue that new material supporting Holmes's case appeared when federal prosecutors admitted Balwani exerted "a lot of influence over" her during his own trial.
Davila, however, said this did not warrant a new trial since the comments did not count as new evidence and it would not likely result in her acquittal anyway.
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Holmes will be sentenced on November 18 and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Balwani was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy and ten counts of wire fraud also faces a maximum sentence of 20 years; he is scheduled to be sentenced on December 7. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/04/elizabeth_holmes_guilty_verdict_theranos/
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/11/09/elizabth_holmes_new_trial_doc.pdf
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y2yFamM5HuWnA6nUz2xDuwAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y2yFamM5HuWnA6nUz2xDuwAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y2yFamM5HuWnA6nUz2xDuwAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/04/elizabeth_holmes_guilty_verdict_theranos/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/07/former_theranos_coo_found_guilty/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/24/theranos_fraud_trial/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/21/theranos_machine_trial/
[10] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/11/09/elizabeth_holmes_new_trial_denied.pdf
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y2yFamM5HuWnA6nUz2xDuwAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Good
Not only was the prosecution's case strong enough that no one witness would sink it, the woman went and got herself pregnant in a pretty shameless and obvious attempt to keep her out of prison as much as possible.
And even if we believe her story that she was in an abusive relationship, in the US that is not an excuse for the massive fraud she was part of. Not to mention how people's health was put in jeopardy because of that fraud. I don't care about the investors who claim they were defrauded... you pays your money and you takes your chances when you choose to invest in a company. The doctors and their patients who were defrauded are the people I care about. So she can go directly to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect any reduced sentences for being pregnant.
She better be careful
Prison is just full of cheats, liars, crooks and the like.
Jailbirthing
A woman who said she was left to give birth to her baby alone on the dirty, concrete floor of her jail cell in Maryland filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday alleging that jail nurses ignored her screams and pleas for help for six hours ... Valentine claims she punched the walls of her solitary confinement cell, which did not have blankets or sheets, during her most painful contractions and removed what she believed was her baby’s amniotic sac and slid it under her cell door to prove she was about to have a baby ... Because of the unsanitary conditions in the cell, the baby developed a type of staph bacteria infection that is resistant to many antibiotics, the lawsuit said ... The lawsuit is similar to one filed in 2019 by a woman who gave birth alone in Denver’s jail the year before, claiming that nurses and deputies ignored her pleas for help for five hours.
Imagine if she cashed a dud cheque
She would already be in the slammer. But different rules apply when you are wealthy.