CNN
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Elizabeth Holmes, the founding father of failed blood testing startup Theranos, who was convicted of fraud earlier this 12 months, is searching for a brand new trial after claiming a key witness visited her house unannounced and reportedly mentioned he “felt responsible” for his testimony.
In a submitting Tuesday in the USA District Courtroom for the Northern District of California, attorneys for Holmes mentioned that Adam Rosendorff, a former director of the Theranos laboratory who was a key authorities witness, arrived at her house on August 8 to ask to talk. along with her.
In keeping with the submitting, Rosendorff didn’t work together with Holmes however spoke to his accomplice Billy Evans, who recounted the change in an e mail to Holmes’ attorneys shortly after.
“His shirt wasn’t tucked in, his hair was a multitude, his voice was shaking barely,” Evans wrote of Rosendorff. In keeping with Evans’ e mail, Rosendorff “mentioned that when known as as a witness, he tried to reply questions actually, however prosecutors tried to make everybody look unhealthy.”
The previous Theranos lab director “additionally mentioned he felt like he did one thing improper,” Evans wrote.
Throughout his testimony final October – which lasted greater than six days – Rosendorff mentioned he left the corporate feeling “very skeptical” in regards to the accuracy and reliability of its exams. He testified that he felt it was “a matter of integrity as a health care provider” not to stick with the corporate and proceed to endorse check outcomes he “didn’t belief”. He mentioned he “got here to consider that the corporate believed extra in public relations and fundraising than in affected person care”.
The previous lab director was additionally revealed as a key whistleblower within the 2015 Wall Road Journal investigation that helped set off the downfall of Holmes and Theranos.
Rosendorff and the federal prosecutors who tried the case in opposition to Holmes didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Of their Tuesday submitting, attorneys for Holmes mentioned Rosendorff’s dialog with Evans constituted new proof warranting a brand new trial.
“Dr. Rosendorff’s statements reflecting his considerations in regards to the authorities’s presentation of his testimony at trial, in addition to his feedback which bear on Ms. Holmes’ intent, forged critical doubt on the integrity of the jury’s verdict in opposition to Ms. Holmes,” they wrote. “The Courtroom ought to grant a brand new trial or, on the very least, order an evidentiary listening to.”
Holmes was discovered responsible of 4 of 11 federal fraud and conspiracy fees in January after a months-long trial. Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani, former president and COO of Theranos, who was additionally Holmes’ boyfriend on the time, was discovered responsible in July this 12 months of 10 counts of federal wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Their trials marked the ultimate chapter for Theranos, a startup as soon as valued at $9 billion and lauded for its promise to disrupt the healthcare business. Theranos claimed its expertise might precisely and effectively check situations equivalent to most cancers and diabetes with only a few drops of blood. With that promise, he attracted $945 million in funding, a board of well-known political figures, and high-profile enterprise companions.
Then got here the Journal’s investigation of the corporate, which questioned the corporate’s testing strategies and the capabilities of its expertise. In 2018, Holmes and Balwani had been every charged with a dozen counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Each have pleaded not responsible and shall be sentenced later this 12 months, with Holmes’s sentencing listening to scheduled for mid-October and Balwani’s due in mid-November.
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