
<p>TOPLINE: Lawyers representing embattled Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes have submitted a list of dozens of witnesses who could be called to testify in her defense at her trial beginning Wednesday, adding numerous high-profile board members, former employees and even the journalist who sparked her downfall to an already <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/08/30/elizabeth-holmes-trial-starts-this-week-heres-what-to-know-about-her-charges-defense-strategy-and-more/?sh=135962cf5fa7">star-studded roster</a> of potential witnesses outlined by the prosecution. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Holmes’ team submitted over 50 names, including 12 that were redacted, in a filing late Tuesday, emphasizing that the list may be supplemented depending on what happens at the trial.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Among those who could be called to the witness stand is Holmes herself, who is maintaining the option to plead her own innocence to the jury.</p>



<p>Also on the list of potential witnesses are multiple people tied to her defunct company, including former employees involved in making Theranos’ products and powerful figures who served on Theranos’ board, such as former CDC Director William Foege, former Senate Majority Leader William Frist and former Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Riley Bechtel, a construction billionaire who pumped&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-cost-business-and-government-leaders-more-than-600-million-1525392082#:~:text=Riley%20Bechtel%2C%20the%20former%20chairman,Corp.%2C%20invested%20%246.2%20million." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">over $6 million</a>&nbsp;into Theranos, is also on the preliminary list, alongside Sue Desmond-Hellman, the former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, though her connection to Holmes is not immediately clear.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Holmes’ defense team has tapped numerous members of the federal health bodies that reviewed Theranos’ technology to possibly testify at trial as well, such as former Food and Drug Administration head Alberto Gutierrez.</p>



<p>Some of the more surprising names on the list are three of the prosecutors leading the case against Holmes and the former&nbsp;<em>Wall Street Journal</em>&nbsp;reporter who penned the 2015 articles that first raised doubts about Theranos’ technology.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE&nbsp;</h2>



<p>“[The] strategy seems clear,”&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JohnCarreyrou/status/1435341074772336641?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;the ex-WSJ journalist, John Carreyrou, who has also produced a podcast and written a book about Holmes’ case, of the defense team’s selections. “They’re going to argue to the jury that this was a witch hunt.”&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT&nbsp;</h2>



<p>The potential witnesses highlighted by the defense compound those already named by the prosecution, whom Holmes’ legal team may also choose to call on. The prosecution’s list, which was over 200 people long, included other Theranos-linked power players like former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, one of the company’s board members, and media mogul Rupert Murdoch.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Opening arguments begin Wednesday in Holmes’ trial, which is expected to last between three and four months total.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Holmes, now 37 years old, faces a total of 12 charges—two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 10 counts of wire fraud—for allegedly engaging in a multimillion-dollar scheme to deceive investors, doctors and patients from 2010 to 2016 alongside Theranos’ former COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, with whom she was romantically involved. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and hit with a $250,000 fine, in addition to restitution, for each count. Holmes and Balwani have both pleaded not guilty and are standing trial separately (Balwani’s trial is set to begin January 2022).</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Holmes skyrocketed to fame nearly a decade ago and was hailed as a visionary for Theranos, a company she founded at age 19 while she was still a student at Stanford University. Setting the lofty goal of revolutionizing healthcare, Holmes said she had the technology to create blood tests that would be able to run hundreds of diagnostics on diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes using just a small drop of patients’ blood. She attracted a litany of high-profile investors who pumped&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-investors-duped-by-the-theranos-fraud-never-asked-for-one-important-thing-2018-03-19" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">more than $700 million</a>&nbsp;into the company and also struck partnerships with Walgreens, Cleveland Clinic, Capital BlueCross and more from 2013 to 2015. A media darling, she appeared on the covers of most major magazines and was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbespr/2015/05/27/forbes-announces-inaugural-list-of-americas-50-richest-self-made-women/?sh=4e3c511e24c1">declared</a>&nbsp;America’s youngest self-made female billionaire by&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;in 2015 after Theranos was valued at $9 billion. The momentum was abruptly broken later that year when the&nbsp;<em>Wall Street Journal</em>&nbsp;published a series of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">investigations</a>&nbsp;calling into question the effectiveness of Theranos’ blood testing machines, which it discovered were giving patients incorrect diagnoses. This catalyzed a fall from grace that led to the dissolution of the business in September 2018 and Holmes’ estimated net worth falling to $0, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2016/06/01/from-4-5-billion-to-nothing-forbes-revises-estimated-net-worth-of-theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes/?sh=1661b7c93633"><em>Forbes</em></a>.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING&nbsp;</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/08/30/elizabeth-holmes-trial-starts-this-week-heres-what-to-know-about-her-charges-defense-strategy-and-more/?sh=135962cf5fa7">“Elizabeth Holmes’ Trial Starts This Week—Here’s What To Know About Her Charges, Defense Strategy And More”</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


Elizabeth Holmes Theranos Trial Begins With Jury Selection

Board Members, Billionaires And A Journalist: Here’s Who Elizabeth Holmes’ Lawyers Could Call To Testify


<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong> &#8211; The coronavirus pandemic has either uprooted or impacted nearly every facet of life across the globe—and high profile court cases are no exception. Here are the big cases delayed because of COVID-19:</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



<ul><li>Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition hearing to the U.S. on charges of espionage was pushed back Monday to as late as November 2020; a new trial date <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-27/wikileak-s-assange-extradition-trial-delayed-by-coronavirus?sref=Msr1H3l1" target="_blank">should be decided by May 4</a>.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ criminal trial for charges of conspiracy and wire fraud was delayed April 15, with a judge <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/15/elizabeth-holmes-criminal-trial-delayed-due-to-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">rescheduling it for October 27</a>.</li></ul>



<ul><li><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/robert-dursts-trial-delayed-until-late-may-due-to-pandemic/2337032/" target="_blank">Robert Durst (of <em>The Jinx</em> notoriety)</a> is scheduled to go to trial for murder May 26 after a Los Angeles judge pushed it back six weeks⁠—becoming the second trial postponement for Durst due to the pandemic. </li></ul>



<ul><li>A preliminary hearing for Joseph DeAngelo, also alleged as <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/ventura/2020/04/22/coronavirus-covid-19-california-golden-state-killer/5166205002/" target="_blank">the Golden State killer</a>, was moved from May 12 June 29⁠—he faces 26 felony charges, including 13 for murder.</li></ul>



<ul><li>The sanity trial for Jarrod Ramos, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.capitalgazette.com/coronavirus/ac-cn-murder-trials-delayed-20200415-7z54atdb4feqpdgutdi3ppqbxe-story.html" target="_blank">the Capital Gazette gunman</a>, was pushed back April 15, but no new date has been established; Ramos previously pled guilty to murder and 18 associated charges.</li></ul>



<ul><li><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/us/politics/supreme-court-phone-arguments-virus.html" target="_blank">The Supreme Court postponed</a> 20 arguments scheduled for March and April, before announcing April 13 that it would hear 10 arguments by telephone over a six-day period in May.</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>CRUCIAL QUOTE</strong></h2>



<p>&nbsp;“We&#8217;re going to have to completely rethink how much has to be done in person, how much can be done using technology⁠—that whole issue that we&#8217;ve just never paid much attention to, is going to be front and center going forward,” Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht told ABC News. “Our operations will never be the same.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>CHIEF CRITIC</strong></h2>



<p>The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed concerns about protecting people’s rights during the pandemic. &#8220;As the government takes the necessary steps to ensure public health, it must also safeguard people’s due process, privacy, and equal protection rights,&#8221; said ACLU National Security Project director Hina Shamsi&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-comment-covid-19-emergency-declaration" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in a statement</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>KEY BACKGROUND</strong></h2>



<p>State and federal courts across the country have been forced to change their normal operating procedures due to the coronavirus pandemic. At least three federal courthouses in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Delaware have been closed after workers were confirmed to have COVID-19. Other courts are attempting to shift to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/04/13/the-judge-will-see-you-on-zoom-but-the-public-is-mostly-left-out" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">holding hearings by video conferencing</a>, which can have technical glitches that make it difficult to follow along. Juries are also largely unable to be convened, further delaying trials for defendants.&nbsp;<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/coronavirus-crippling-courts-raising-concerns-civil-liberties-advocates/story?id=69757862" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ABC News reported</a>&nbsp;that some criminal justice advocates are optimistic that the pandemic will encourage technological developments in the courts, and increase transparency for the public.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>TANGENT</strong></h2>



<p>The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a hotly-anticipated <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-dismisses-anticipated-new-york-gun-rights-case-because-the-law-in-question-has-been-rescinded/2020/04/27/d05c39e6-8893-11ea-9dfd-990f9dcc71fc_story.html" target="_blank">gun rights case</a>, while ruling that <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/27/politics/supreme-court-affordable-care-act-insurance-payments/index.html" target="_blank">health insurance companies can sue</a> to collect Obamacare payments. </p>



<p><em>&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/">Lisette Voytko,</a>Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/business">Business</a></em></p>


Tag: Elizabeth Holmes

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