On Thursday, Jeff Schenk, an assistant U.S. legal professional and one of many lead prosecutors, summarized the federal government’s case merely: When Theranos was virtually out of cash, Ms. Holmes might have let it fail. However she selected to defraud traders as a substitute, he mentioned.
“That selection was not solely callous, it was felony,” Mr. Schenk mentioned.
Ms. Holmes’s legal professionals countered with a spread of responses: She had been advised by her colleagues that the expertise labored, she had hid info to guard commerce secrets and techniques, she had moved to repair the issues as soon as she realized of them, and the broader narrative about Theranos was extra sophisticated than the prosecution had made it appear.
“The federal government is exhibiting an occasion that appears unhealthy, however on the finish of the day, when all of the proof flows collectively, it isn’t so unhealthy,” mentioned Mr. Downey. He confirmed slides illustrating the steep burden of the federal government to show “past affordable doubt” that Ms. Holmes had knowingly lied to get cash.
Ms. Holmes’s protection primarily relied on her personal testimony, which lasted seven days and upended the narrative of the case. It was the primary time that Ms. Holmes had advised her model of the occasions resulting in Theranos’s collapse, which has been broadly documented in podcasts, books, documentaries and information experiences.
On the stand, Ms. Holmes painted herself as a hardworking and impressive entrepreneur who believed in her firm’s expertise and potential. Any exaggerations or deceptive statements had been merely her projecting grand plans for the longer term, she implied.
She additional mentioned Ramesh Balwani, her former longtime boyfriend and enterprise associate, who is called Sunny, had berated her and managed each facet of her life. She additionally accused him of sexual abuse, which he has denied. Their relationship had been stored a secret on the time.
However in court docket, each facet of the connection — textual content messages, emails, conversations, infidelities and the restricted legal responsibility firm by means of which they owned a house — was picked aside. Prosecutors dug in to attempt to present the pair conspired to commit fraud. Ms. Holmes’s legal professionals tried to indicate she was a sufferer.
