Elizabeth Holmes.Photo: Yichuan Cao/Getty Images
According to newly-unsealed court documents from 2020,TheranosfounderElizabeth Holmeswill testify at her federal fraud trial, which begins tomorrow morning with jury selection.
When she takes the witness stand, according to the documents, Holmes, 37, is expected to testify that she was unable to think clearly at the time of the crimes of which she’s accused because of the alleged sexual, psychological and emotional abuse she endured during her relationship with former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, her ex-boyfriend and co-defendant.
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The filing — dated Feb. 6, 2020 — also says Holmes will “likely to testify herself to the reasons why she believed, relied on, and deferred to Mr. Balwani,” Theranos' onetime Chief Operating Officer.
Holmes, who is also charged with conspiracy, faces 20 years in federal prison if convicted. Balwani faces the same charges, but will be tried separately in January.
The filing also states that Holmes —a new momwho serves as the subject ofan HBO documentaryas well asa forthcoming Hulu miniseriesstarringAmanda Seyfried— would testify and accuse Balwani of controlling what she ate, how she dressed and who she spoke to.
She may also tell the court that her ex allegedly monitored her calls, emails and text messages, according to the filing, which additionally claims Holmes developed depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and intimate partner abuse syndrome as a result of what she alleges was a decade-long abusive relationship.
Sunny Balwani leaving court in January 2019.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
In Balwani’s response to the court filing, his lawyer, Jeffrey Coopersmith, called the allegations “salacious and inflammatory,” adding that Holmes' claims “are deeply offensive to Mr. Balwani, devastating personally to him.”
Holmes and Balwani are accused of “raising more than $700 million from investors through an elaborate, years-long fraud in which they exaggerated or made false statements about the company’s technology, business, and financial performance,” reads a statement from the Department of Justice, issued after the arrests of both defendants.
Both defendants have entered not guilty pleas to the charges.
Elizabeth Holmes first rose to prominence in 2014 as the CEO of healthcare start-up Theranos, which purported its technology could run hundreds of medical tests using just one drop of blood.
However, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur became infamous some 20 months later, after being accused of a perpetrating a fraud scheme that duped millions of investors.
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Federal authorities allege that Holmes misled patients and physicians about the effectiveness of her blood tests. She’s also accused of lying to investors in 2015, telling them that Theranos would generate $1 billion in revenue when she allegedly knew the company would only generate a few hundred thousand dollars that year.
In 2019,the turtleneck-donning Holmesgot engaged toWilliam “Billy” Evans, the 29-year-old father of her son, William.
Evans' grandparents founded theEvans Hotel Group, which currently owns and operates three major resorts in California.
It is expected that several Theranos patients will testify during the trial about how Holmes' alleges crimes impacted their lives.
source: people.com
