CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1m

The jury is back, and Holmes' attorney is back to pointing to some more Theranos master verification plan documents -- this batch is specific to Theranos' use of Siemens Advia 1800 blood-testing devices.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
23m

Gangakhedkar says in 2013 ex-Theranos lab director Adam Rosendorff "didn’t go into all of the details" of Theranos' device launch or the plan to use Siemens' devices when he met with her. Wade: He was not concerned with the approach? Gangakhedkar: That was my understanding.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
7m

Holmes' atty asks Gangakhedkar if the plan was to focus on validating a few assays on Theranos' Edison devices and then roll out more in "phases." She replies "I don’t recall the entirety of the plan." He points to an Aug 21 2013 email she wrote mentioning the phased approach.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2m

Holmes' atty brings up Balwani's 2013 email to Gangakhedkar criticizing her team for not working through the night like the software team. Wade says Balwani was "essentially boast[ing] about the oppressive hours his team was working, as though that was a badge of honor."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1m

Wade on Balwani: He’s trying to make you feel guilty for the fact you weren't working then wasn’t he?

Gangakhedkar: Yes.

Wade: He’s trying to make your whole team feel guilty?

Gangakhedkar: Yes.

Wade: You were frustrated by that?

Gangakhedkar: Yes.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
5m

Wade asks Gangakhedkar if she was deeply offended by Balwani. She replies that his criticism of her team was a "common theme." Wade asks if the witness is aware Balwani criticized Holmes. She replies she was not, but the gov't objects and the judge sustains the objection.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
3m

Wade points out that Gangakhedkar was so upset by Balwani's email that she replied to him defending her team's hard work, and resigned 3 days later. He notes that Holmes was surprised and she asked Gangakhedkar if there was anything they could do to keep her, but she said no.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1m

On redirect now. Robert Leach is up for the gov't, asking Gangakhedkar if she conveyed her reliability concerns about Theranos' Edison 3.0 and 3.5 with Holmes when she quit. She says she did.
https://twitter.com/doratki/status/1440401469237202957

 

[LinasK]

Elizabeth Holmes moved ahead with Walgreens rollout despite internal concerns, former Theranos scientist testifies
By Sara Ashley O'Brien, CNN Business

Updated 9:01 AM ET, Tue September 21, 2021(CNN Business)A longtime Theranos scientist depicted Elizabeth Holmes as prioritizing a business partnership over the possible well-being of patients in testimony capping off the first full week of witnesses taking the stand in the criminal trial of the disgraced founder.
The witness, Surekha Gangakhedkar, a scientist who worked for Theranos for eight years before quitting over her concerns about the company's capabilities, will continue her testimony Tuesday when the high-profile trial resumes in a San Jose federal courtroom.
Gangakhedkar testified Friday that Holmes was directly knowledgeable about the failings of its proprietary blood analyzer machine yet moved forward with the rollout of its devices to Walgreens locations.Gangakhedkar, who first joined Theranos in 2005 and said she reported to Holmes for a time, testified that she returned from a nearly month-long vacation to learn the company planned to soon use its devices to test patient samples, despite what she said were unresolved reliability issues. She said she felt pressured by Holmes to validate tests for patient use. <snip>
Gangakhedkar, who was granted immunity against self-incrimination by Judge Edward Davila ahead of testifying, said she spoke directly to Holmes about her decision to quit, including her concerns with the plans to move forward with the launch.
Holmes, Gangakhedkar testified, responded by conveying "that when she has a promise to deliver to the customer, she doesn't have much of a choice but to go ahead with the launch." This testimony strikes at the trial's central questions: what Holmes knew, when she knew it, and whether she intended to deceive investors, patients and doctors. The government is trying to convince the jury that Holmes knowingly misled investors, patients, and doctors about the capabilities of her company and its proprietary blood testing technology as she found herself running out of time and resources to make the technology work. More at link: Elizabeth Holmes moved ahead with Walgreens rollout despite internal concerns, former Theranos scientist testifies - CNN

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
44m

Leach shows Gangakhedkar an email from a team member responding to Balwani's criticisms re her team not working through the night. The email says "This is so frustrating and insulting when we were all working so hard"..."This is as much as we can take and not the first time."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
42m

Gangakhedkar responded to the email "agreed" and she and her team member quit Theranos shortly after. W/ that, the parties wrapped Gangakhedkar's exam. Feds call Arizona nurse practitioner Audra Zachman next.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
34m

Zachman says she first heard of Theranos in summer 2014 after a rep pitched its blood-testing devices to her hospital's product committee. They chose to use Theranos b/c they were less costly, less invasive and they thought lab results would be reliable, convenient and accurate.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
27m

Zachman says she had her patients use Theranos blood tests, including one patient, who was pregnant in Sept 2014 after previously having a miscarriage and falling into the high-risk pregnancy category.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
14m

Zachman says her patient eventually gave birth to a healthy baby, but she ordered Theranos HCG hormone tests that jumped from 1,005 to 12,558 HCG and then dropped 2 days later to 125.58 HCG. The drop "would be very concerning" and suggest a miscarriage.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
8m

Zachman says based on Theranos' hormone tests, she told her patient that she likely doesn't have a viable pregnancy, which would have been her patient's fourth miscarriage. Zachman did a 3rd hormone test from another co and learned Theranos tests had been inaccurate.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
6m

After, Zachman said she was concerned about the reliability of Theranos' test results and felt uncomfortable as a provider continuing having her patients blood drawn there. "It stood out as such a red flag," she says.

 

[LinasK]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
44m

Leach shows Gangakhedkar an email from a team member responding to Balwani's criticisms re her team not working through the night. The email says "This is so frustrating and insulting when we were all working so hard"..."This is as much as we can take and not the first time."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
42m

Gangakhedkar responded to the email "agreed" and she and her team member quit Theranos shortly after. W/ that, the parties wrapped Gangakhedkar's exam. Feds call Arizona nurse practitioner Audra Zachman next.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
34m

Zachman says she first heard of Theranos in summer 2014 after a rep pitched its blood-testing devices to her hospital's product committee. They chose to use Theranos b/c they were less costly, less invasive and they thought lab results would be reliable, convenient and accurate.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
27m

Zachman says she had her patients use Theranos blood tests, including one patient, who was pregnant in Sept 2014 after previously having a miscarriage and falling into the high-risk pregnancy category.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
14m

Zachman says her patient eventually gave birth to a healthy baby, but she ordered Theranos HCG hormone tests that jumped from 1,005 to 12,558 HCG and then dropped 2 days later to 125.58 HCG. The drop "would be very concerning" and suggest a miscarriage.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
8m

Zachman says based on Theranos' hormone tests, she told her patient that she likely doesn't have a viable pregnancy, which would have been her patient's fourth miscarriage. Zachman did a 3rd hormone test from another co and learned Theranos tests had been inaccurate.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
6m

After, Zachman said she was concerned about the reliability of Theranos' test results and felt uncomfortable as a provider continuing having her patients blood drawn there. "It stood out as such a red flag," she says.

What unneeded stress for the poor mother to be! Holmes didn't care about the patients lives she was affecting.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Zachman said after she realized Theranos' test errors she complained to the company, and Holmes' brother, Christian Holmes, responded to her, blaming the mistake on "human error" and a wrong entry into the system.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Zachman said Christian Holmes' explanation wasn't satisfactory, because the values still didn't "fit the clinical picture" and it raised more questions for her.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

On cross now, Katie Trefz is up for Holmes. The attorney begins by pointing out there are qualitative and quantitative hCG tests and gets Zachman to acknowledge that there are other ways to test for early pregnancy aside from hCG tests.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
53m

Treftz gets Zachman to acknowledge that she advised her patient to continue her prenatal vitamins and hormone treatment despite the two inaccurate Theranos' test results, b/c she didn't show other signs of a miscarriage.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
50m

Treftz notes that Christian Holmes apologized for the errors and gave Zachman his cell and email for her to call if she had more concerns, and Theranos offered to do a study and put providers in touch with Holmes directly.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
48m

Zachman acknowledges that Theranos did eventually partner with Zachman's hospital to do a study and Zachman "briefly" helped design the study.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
44m

Holmes' attorney points out that between October 2015 and October 2016, Theranos performed 300 hCG tests for patients at Zachman's hospital, including Zachman's own patients. Zachman doesn't recall, but after reviewing docs agrees the tests happened.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
42m

Holmes' attorney asks Zachman if she knew that her hospital placed 20k assay orders with Theranos. She replies that she isn't aware of that stat.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
37m

On redirect, Zachman says the Theranos study w/ her hospital involved ~30 patients, but the incident with her patient was "very impactful to me as a provider" and "as a woman." "There wasn’t much that could restore my faith [in Theranos] at that time," she says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
32m

The parties wrapped with Zachman's examination, and we're going for another 30 mins today before breaking. Zachman's patient, Brittney Gould, is on the stand.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
30m

Fun fact: Gould pronounces Theranos the way the judge pronounces Theranos. Ther-Ah-nos.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
17m

Gould's exam is quick. She says she got Theranos hCG tests from a Walgreens b/c it was less costly than alternatives and after she received the inaccurate results, she didn't trust it: "You can’t provide accurate patient care w/ inaccurate results." Defense has no cross.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
18m

We're adjourned until tomorrow morning.

 

[LinasK]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Zachman said after she realized Theranos' test errors she complained to the company, and Holmes' brother, Christian Holmes, responded to her, blaming the mistake on "human error" and a wrong entry into the system.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Zachman said Christian Holmes' explanation wasn't satisfactory, because the values still didn't "fit the clinical picture" and it raised more questions for her.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

On cross now, Katie Trefz is up for Holmes. The attorney begins by pointing out there are qualitative and quantitative hCG tests and gets Zachman to acknowledge that there are other ways to test for early pregnancy aside from hCG tests.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
53m

Treftz gets Zachman to acknowledge that she advised her patient to continue her prenatal vitamins and hormone treatment despite the two inaccurate Theranos' test results, b/c she didn't show other signs of a miscarriage.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
50m

Treftz notes that Christian Holmes apologized for the errors and gave Zachman his cell and email for her to call if she had more concerns, and Theranos offered to do a study and put providers in touch with Holmes directly.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
48m

Zachman acknowledges that Theranos did eventually partner with Zachman's hospital to do a study and Zachman "briefly" helped design the study.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
44m

Holmes' attorney points out that between October 2015 and October 2016, Theranos performed 300 hCG tests for patients at Zachman's hospital, including Zachman's own patients. Zachman doesn't recall, but after reviewing docs agrees the tests happened.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
42m

Holmes' attorney asks Zachman if she knew that her hospital placed 20k assay orders with Theranos. She replies that she isn't aware of that stat.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
37m

On redirect, Zachman says the Theranos study w/ her hospital involved ~30 patients, but the incident with her patient was "very impactful to me as a provider" and "as a woman." "There wasn’t much that could restore my faith [in Theranos] at that time," she says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
32m

The parties wrapped with Zachman's examination, and we're going for another 30 mins today before breaking. Zachman's patient, Brittney Gould, is on the stand.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
30m

Fun fact: Gould pronounces Theranos the way the judge pronounces Theranos. Ther-Ah-nos.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
17m

Gould's exam is quick. She says she got Theranos hCG tests from a Walgreens b/c it was less costly than alternatives and after she received the inaccurate results, she didn't trust it: "You can’t provide accurate patient care w/ inaccurate results." Defense has no cross.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
18m

We're adjourned until tomorrow morning.

That lawyer Trefz is missing the point: the patient was relying on Theranos to give her accurate levels of her hormones to determine if the pregnancy was viable. What if she had decided to terminate the pregnancy based on those error results, only to find out that Theranos was wrong??? It's not just the lost time and money involved.

 

[LinasK]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Zachman said after she realized Theranos' test errors she complained to the company, and Holmes' brother, Christian Holmes, responded to her, blaming the mistake on "human error" and a wrong entry into the system.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Zachman said Christian Holmes' explanation wasn't satisfactory, because the values still didn't "fit the clinical picture" and it raised more questions for her.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

On cross now, Katie Trefz is up for Holmes. The attorney begins by pointing out there are qualitative and quantitative hCG tests and gets Zachman to acknowledge that there are other ways to test for early pregnancy aside from hCG tests.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
53m

Treftz gets Zachman to acknowledge that she advised her patient to continue her prenatal vitamins and hormone treatment despite the two inaccurate Theranos' test results, b/c she didn't show other signs of a miscarriage.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
50m

Treftz notes that Christian Holmes apologized for the errors and gave Zachman his cell and email for her to call if she had more concerns, and Theranos offered to do a study and put providers in touch with Holmes directly.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
48m

Zachman acknowledges that Theranos did eventually partner with Zachman's hospital to do a study and Zachman "briefly" helped design the study.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
44m

Holmes' attorney points out that between October 2015 and October 2016, Theranos performed 300 hCG tests for patients at Zachman's hospital, including Zachman's own patients. Zachman doesn't recall, but after reviewing docs agrees the tests happened.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
42m

Holmes' attorney asks Zachman if she knew that her hospital placed 20k assay orders with Theranos. She replies that she isn't aware of that stat.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
37m

On redirect, Zachman says the Theranos study w/ her hospital involved ~30 patients, but the incident with her patient was "very impactful to me as a provider" and "as a woman." "There wasn’t much that could restore my faith [in Theranos] at that time," she says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
32m

The parties wrapped with Zachman's examination, and we're going for another 30 mins today before breaking. Zachman's patient, Brittney Gould, is on the stand.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
30m

Fun fact: Gould pronounces Theranos the way the judge pronounces Theranos. Ther-Ah-nos.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
17m

Gould's exam is quick. She says she got Theranos hCG tests from a Walgreens b/c it was less costly than alternatives and after she received the inaccurate results, she didn't trust it: "You can’t provide accurate patient care w/ inaccurate results." Defense has no cross.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
18m

We're adjourned until tomorrow morning.

BBM. Boom! Mic drop. Epic.

 

[dcfi224]

@UndiscoveredTruth Thank you for providing all the tweets!! You are very appreciated!

 

[LinasK]

Former Theranos patient testifies blood test gave her false miscarriage diagnosis
Published Tue, Sep 21 20217:05 PM EDT
Yasmin Khorram@YasminKhorram
SAN JOSE, CALIF. --- The first patient to take the stand in trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes said that the company’s blood test inaccurately showed she was suffering a miscarriage when in fact she had a healthy pregnancy.

Brittany Gould, who had already miscarried three times testified on Tuesday that in September 2014 she took a Theranos blood-test at a Walgreens store in Arizona after learning that she was pregnant.

After reviewing the results of the Theranos hCG test, which measured a pregnancy hormone, Gould’s nurse practitioner, Audra Zuchman, delivered some alarming news.

“She told me your numbers are falling, unfortunately, and that I was miscarrying,” Gould said, getting emotional on the stand.Two Theranos hCG blood-tests indicated Gould was miscarrying. However, tests taken two and four days later through a different lab, Quest Diagnostics, confirmed that Gould was still pregnant. She eventually had a healthy baby. More at link: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/21/theranos-test-gave-false-miscarriage-diagnosis-witness-testifies.html

 

[Niner]

Wednesday, Sept. 22nd:
*Trial continues (Day 6) (@ 9am PT) - CA – for *Elizabeth A. Holmes (34/now 37) (CEO of Theranos) charged (March, 2018) & indicted (6/14/18) & arraigned (6/15/18) with 9 counts of wire fraud & 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and charged & indicted (4/11/20) with fraud relating to a patient's blood test. Another count of wire fraud was added in 2020, bringing the total number of felony charges to 12. Plead not guilty. No bond. Faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison & up to $2.75 million in fines, plus restitution, & $250K for each individual count of wire fraud & conspiracy.
Defrauding investors out of $700 million in funding for their blood-testing startup Theranos.
Trial began on 8/31/21 with jury selection. 12 jurors of 7 men & 5 women (6 Caucasians, 4 Hispanics & 2 Asians) with five alternates (2 men & 3 women). Juror #7 excused & replaced with alternate #1. Now jurors are 8 men & 4 women. Alternates 1 man & 3 women.
Trial began on 9/8/21.
The Court trial days will be Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday, possibly other half days. The Court may modify the trial time & set either 8:30am-2pm or 9am-2pm & possibly 30-minute breaks in between. Judge Edward J. Davila presiding. Jury selection was on 8/31 & 9/1 completed; trial dates 9/22, 9/24, 9/28, 9/29, 10/1, 10/5, 10/6, 10/8, 10/12, 10/13, 10/15, 10/19, 10/20, 10/22. 10/26, 10/27, 10/29, 11/2 so far. Motions hearing on 9/30.
Indictment & court info from 4/11/20 thru 8/26/21 & jury selection (Day 1-3) 8/31/21 to 9/2/21 & trial (Day 1-4) 9/8/21 to 9/17/21 reference post #539 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
9/21/21 Tuesday, Trial Day 5: Government witnesses: Ex-Theranos team manager Surekha Gangakhedkar back on stand.
for more info reference post #s 540 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Surekha Gangakhedkar continued.
for more info see post #541 & 542 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Arizona nurse practitioner Audra Zachman.
for more info see post #543 & 545 here:
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Zachman's patient, Brittney Gould.
for more info see post #545 here
CA - Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) Wire Fraud
Trial continues on 9/22/21.
*Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (53/now 56) (CFO & President of Theranos) – Motion hearing on 9/30/21 & trial set to begin on 1/11/22 with jury selection & trial starts on 1/18/22.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
15h

Jurors deciding whether ex-Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes defrauded investors and patients heard from the first alleged victim today - a mother whose Theranos blood tests wrongly suggested she had a miscarriage. Here's my recap of today's testimony:

Theranos Test Wrongly Suggested Miscarriage, Jury Hears - Law360


Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
4h

Good morning from San Jose! There was no line today to get into the federal courthouse for day 6 of US v Elizabeth Holmes and boy was that a relief. It's unclear who will be testifying today, but we'll be going until 3 p.m. Standby for a deluge of tweets.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2h

Judge Davila is back on the bench. He says he reviewed Holmes' objections to prosecutors' plan to introduce a bunch of text messages b/w Holmes and Balwani. He's allowing more texts to be presented to the jury for rule "106-purposes" - or completeness.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2h

Holmes' counsel objects to certain texts b/w Balwani and Holmes being shown to the jury about WSJ stories. Prosecutors claim the texts show Holmes deceived journalists and that is "inextricably intertwined" w/ the alleged conspiracy. The judge says they're admissible.


Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2h

During the break, I'm reading through some of the texts from 2015 b/w Balwani and Holmes that prosecutors made public earlier this month. In one, Holmes tells Balwani she is "madly in love" with him and his strength. He replies "I am tired today."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2h

In an earlier exchange, Holmes tells Balwani he is the "breeze in desert," her water and ocean, and they were meant to be together. He replies "ok."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2h

The jury is back in the courtroom, and PwC forensic expert Justin Offen is on the stand. Federal prosecutor Robert Leach is up for the gov't on direct.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Offen says in the fall of 2016, PwC was hired by the "large firm" WilmerHale to assist with legal services for the law firm's client Theranos. PwC also helped Theranos respond to SEC and DOJ probes, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Offen says in 2017 he made 'clean forensic' copies of Holmes' cell phone, her multiple desktop computers and multiple laptops, and created a 589-page Excel spreadsheet of all her text messages w/ Balwani.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

The prosecutor is showing Offen a diagram of PwC's process for making the clean forensic copy. He says there were 80,948 messages b/w Holmes and Balwani that they extracted from the devices.

 

[Pesto919]

"During the break, I'm reading through some of the texts from 2015 b/w Balwani and Holmes that prosecutors made public earlier this month. In one, Holmes tells Balwani she is "madly in love" with him and his strength. He replies "I am tired today."
OUCH! Where can I find the texts?

 

[LinasK]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
15h

Jurors deciding whether ex-Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes defrauded investors and patients heard from the first alleged victim today - a mother whose Theranos blood tests wrongly suggested she had a miscarriage. Here's my recap of today's testimony:

Theranos Test Wrongly Suggested Miscarriage, Jury Hears - Law360


Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
4h

Good morning from San Jose! There was no line today to get into the federal courthouse for day 6 of US v Elizabeth Holmes and boy was that a relief. It's unclear who will be testifying today, but we'll be going until 3 p.m. Standby for a deluge of tweets.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2h

Judge Davila is back on the bench. He says he reviewed Holmes' objections to prosecutors' plan to introduce a bunch of text messages b/w Holmes and Balwani. He's allowing more texts to be presented to the jury for rule "106-purposes" - or completeness.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2h

Holmes' counsel objects to certain texts b/w Balwani and Holmes being shown to the jury about WSJ stories. Prosecutors claim the texts show Holmes deceived journalists and that is "inextricably intertwined" w/ the alleged conspiracy. The judge says they're admissible.


Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2h

During the break, I'm reading through some of the texts from 2015 b/w Balwani and Holmes that prosecutors made public earlier this month. In one, Holmes tells Balwani she is "madly in love" with him and his strength. He replies "I am tired today."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2h

In an earlier exchange, Holmes tells Balwani he is the "breeze in desert," her water and ocean, and they were meant to be together. He replies "ok."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2h

The jury is back in the courtroom, and PwC forensic expert Justin Offen is on the stand. Federal prosecutor Robert Leach is up for the gov't on direct.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Offen says in the fall of 2016, PwC was hired by the "large firm" WilmerHale to assist with legal services for the law firm's client Theranos. PwC also helped Theranos respond to SEC and DOJ probes, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Offen says in 2017 he made 'clean forensic' copies of Holmes' cell phone, her multiple desktop computers and multiple laptops, and created a 589-page Excel spreadsheet of all her text messages w/ Balwani.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

The prosecutor is showing Offen a diagram of PwC's process for making the clean forensic copy. He says there were 80,948 messages b/w Holmes and Balwani that they extracted from the devices.

Well, now we know why she wanted these texts kept out. They demolish her "he was abusive to me and forced me to act" defense. His responses to her obsessiveness was "I'm tired" and "Okay". Not exactly the responses of an abuser in a relationship.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Offen clarifies that the 80,948 messages included messages b/w Balwani, Holmes and others, but PwC narrowed those down to messages b/w just Balwani and Holmes and ended up with 12,132 messages.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Offen explains how he used a bunch of other tech tricks to triple check the authenticity of the messages. After all of that, he ended up with the 449-page Excel spreadsheet w/ Balwani and Holmes' text messages.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Prosecutor points to a text message Balwani sent Holmes in November 2013 in which Balwani wrote "Pissing me off we don’t have anyone managing PwC...." Holmes replied, "I agree."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Another text, from November 2013, Balwani tells Holmes "we are at $15 million as of today. Free cash." She replies "I saw that."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Balwani wrote Holmes in November 19 2014 "need to focus on ops. getting hurt in market. customer service seems to be terrible. Everyone complaining." She replies "yes... lab customer service but all need director level people"

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

(fyi I'm sitting about five feet from the screen showing these text messages in the overflow room and I still feel like I need a magnifying glass to read 'em.)

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

In November 2014 Holmes wrote Balwani "Fundamentally we need to stop fighting fires by creating them. We need to focus on root cause."


Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Later that day Balwani wrote Holmes, "Need ctn fix. Our root cause of issues. I know seems like they r a mess." Holmes replied, "yes."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Nov. 28 2014, Balwani wrote Holmes "Normandy lab is a disaster zone. Glad I came here. Will work on fixing this." ..."We built software to remove human error and human judgment all day I saw these people use their judgments to work around the processes."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Holmes wrote Balwani in April 21 2015, "WSJ guy might show up tomorrow." Balwani says "We need tomorrow to test and then the team can push it in production tomorrow night." Holmes replies "OK could just do for him only if he shows up..."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Holmes wrote Balwani re WSJ reporter: "Hard to know who he is and what order he brings. Better a perfect venus [draw] than bad fingerprick...Seems like this guy is looking to write something negative."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Over an objection, prosecutor points to an April 2015 text exchange. Balwani wrote "there is too much hype around Theranos and you... I am worried about over exposure." She replied "I agree."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

In April 2015, Balwani wrote Holmes "it is most maddening there is no focus in any chem teams and no product coming out."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Holmes replied "I know. Leadership. I am taking over all chem teams per discussion and will begin doing daily meetings daily meetings really is the only way." Balwani responded "Most disappointing how bad these people are."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
1h

Trial is on a lunch break. We'll be back in ~45 min. Now excuse me while I go look for a magnifying glass...


https://twitter.com/doratki/status/1440736486098231299

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
42m

We're back! Judge Davila asks the status of the next witness. Prosecutor John Bostic says they would like to get the next witness done today. (Sounds like he's important.)

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
41m

Judge Davila suggests we break Offen's testimony to get the next witness up on the stand, whose examination is expected to take about 2-3 hours. Prosecutors are ok with that.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
36m

Jury is back and the next witness is former Defense Secretary James Mattis and ex-Theranos board member.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
34m

Mattis says he was on Theranos' board from Aug 2013 to December 2016 and he met Elizabeth Holmes in SF in 2011 or 2012 when he was backstage for a speech. "She pricked my finger to give me an idea" of the blood-test devices and what they could do, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
32m

Mattis recalls his military career and commanding CENTCOM in the Middle East, which included overseeing 200k U.S. military troops.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
29m

Holmes emailed a message to Mattis in Aug 2011 about their meeting, and he responded that it was a pleasure to meet. "Young folks like you remind me why we need to keep hold of the freedoms we enjoy," he wrote her.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
28m

On Oct. 8 2011, Mattis emailed Holmes saying “I'm trying to find a way to employ your device on a swift ‘pilot project’ or 'proof of principle' to expedite its entry to our forces."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
27m

Mattis says "I was rather taken with the idea that one drop of blood and remote capability you could test for a broad array of problems." He says in triage it’s "very very helpful" for medical staff, "if it could do what she said it could do."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
25m

James Mattis says what he knew about the devices was "rudimentary" and the military could potentially use Theranos devices not for diagnosis, but to compare results.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
25m

James Mattis says in "both military and civilian world" the industry is "very regulated" and "You don’t take chances on something like that. It needs to prove itself before it’s brought in...but I wanted to get it started."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
22m

James Mattis says he was interested in Theranos' devices b/c it was "one device," that non-professionals could use in triage or medivac situations, and its size was small, and there's limited room in rugged environments "out in the field."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
20m

Mattis says Holmes gave him info about the technology and he thought she was "sharp, articulate, committed." "I had no other source of information on it at the time," he says, adding that he was impressed by her but that "didn't take the place of having the device prove itself."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
18m

Prosecutor points to a March 2013 email in which Mattis wrote Holmes "I'm a strong believer in what you have designed/built and hope that we can get it in theater soon to test it."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
18m

Holmes replied that they are "making sure our deployment is done right and are very close to activating our program."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
17m

James Mattis said in 2013, military "casualties had not relented," and "I was interested in anything" that would improve the care of casualties. "I was a strong believer to get this in theater for it to stand and deliver," or not, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
14m

James Mattis said "I took her at her word. She moved - what I thought - forward on it and i was just trying to get the military to open the door." Mattis: This was not a sig issue considering all of the issues we were dealing with, but i didn’t want people to go to sleep on it.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
13m

Mattis says Holmes appeared "very aggressive" and "she never mentioned commercial launch in any context to me. I assumed it was going on but it was never a subject of our emails that I can recall."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
13m

Mattis says Holmes told him she had been working on the devices since college, "so I knew that she had been working on this for years." He says he's not aware of the military ever using the devices.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
10m

Mattis testifies that he asked Holmes why she wanted him to be on the board, b/c he's not a medical expert and he says she told him for his managing/personnel experience and for corporate culture.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
8m

Mattis said he invested roughly $85,000 and that was a significant investment for him, "as someone who has been in the government for 40 years."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
59s

Mattis said before his first Theranos board meeting, he thought the error rates on blood tests were "frankly quite startling” and Theranos' proposed accuracy was "one of the selling points" for him.

 

[LinasK]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
42m

We're back! Judge Davila asks the status of the next witness. Prosecutor John Bostic says they would like to get the next witness done today. (Sounds like he's important.)

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
41m

Judge Davila suggests we break Offen's testimony to get the next witness up on the stand, whose examination is expected to take about 2-3 hours. Prosecutors are ok with that.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
36m

Jury is back and the next witness is former Defense Secretary James Mattis and ex-Theranos board member.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
34m

Mattis says he was on Theranos' board from Aug 2013 to December 2016 and he met Elizabeth Holmes in SF in 2011 or 2012 when he was backstage for a speech. "She pricked my finger to give me an idea" of the blood-test devices and what they could do, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
32m

Mattis recalls his military career and commanding CENTCOM in the Middle East, which included overseeing 200k U.S. military troops.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
29m

Holmes emailed a message to Mattis in Aug 2011 about their meeting, and he responded that it was a pleasure to meet. "Young folks like you remind me why we need to keep hold of the freedoms we enjoy," he wrote her.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
28m

On Oct. 8 2011, Mattis emailed Holmes saying “I'm trying to find a way to employ your device on a swift ‘pilot project’ or 'proof of principle' to expedite its entry to our forces."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
27m

Mattis says "I was rather taken with the idea that one drop of blood and remote capability you could test for a broad array of problems." He says in triage it’s "very very helpful" for medical staff, "if it could do what she said it could do."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
25m

James Mattis says what he knew about the devices was "rudimentary" and the military could potentially use Theranos devices not for diagnosis, but to compare results.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
25m

James Mattis says in "both military and civilian world" the industry is "very regulated" and "You don’t take chances on something like that. It needs to prove itself before it’s brought in...but I wanted to get it started."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
22m

James Mattis says he was interested in Theranos' devices b/c it was "one device," that non-professionals could use in triage or medivac situations, and its size was small, and there's limited room in rugged environments "out in the field."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
20m

Mattis says Holmes gave him info about the technology and he thought she was "sharp, articulate, committed." "I had no other source of information on it at the time," he says, adding that he was impressed by her but that "didn't take the place of having the device prove itself."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
18m

Prosecutor points to a March 2013 email in which Mattis wrote Holmes "I'm a strong believer in what you have designed/built and hope that we can get it in theater soon to test it."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
18m

Holmes replied that they are "making sure our deployment is done right and are very close to activating our program."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
17m

James Mattis said in 2013, military "casualties had not relented," and "I was interested in anything" that would improve the care of casualties. "I was a strong believer to get this in theater for it to stand and deliver," or not, he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
14m

James Mattis said "I took her at her word. She moved - what I thought - forward on it and i was just trying to get the military to open the door." Mattis: This was not a sig issue considering all of the issues we were dealing with, but i didn’t want people to go to sleep on it.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
13m

Mattis says Holmes appeared "very aggressive" and "she never mentioned commercial launch in any context to me. I assumed it was going on but it was never a subject of our emails that I can recall."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
13m

Mattis says Holmes told him she had been working on the devices since college, "so I knew that she had been working on this for years." He says he's not aware of the military ever using the devices.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
10m

Mattis testifies that he asked Holmes why she wanted him to be on the board, b/c he's not a medical expert and he says she told him for his managing/personnel experience and for corporate culture.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
8m

Mattis said he invested roughly $85,000 and that was a significant investment for him, "as someone who has been in the government for 40 years."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
59s

Mattis said before his first Theranos board meeting, he thought the error rates on blood tests were "frankly quite startling” and Theranos' proposed accuracy was "one of the selling points" for him.

So the bottom line is that she used him for the prestige and status that his name brought, and he was sucked in by this pretty blonde thing who made lots of promises.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
32m

James Mattis says the first Theranos board meeting he attended in October 2013 was "90% Ms. Holmes," and he doesn't remember Balwani always attending.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
19m

Mattis said the info presented to him during the board meeting impressed him and he thought the devices were better, faster and cheaper than competitors. Had he known otherwise, "it would have tempered my enthusiasm significantly," he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
11m

Mattis said after he retired from the military in March 2013, it might have had a "cooling" effect on his contribution to Theranos due to safe harbour rules restricting what he could contribute to the military.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
8m

Mattis says after he retired from the military, he told Holmes that "I did not want to be involved in the military aspect at all."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
7m

Prosecutor turned to
@rparloff
's Fortune Magazine article about Theranos. Mattis spoke to the journalist and said he asked what he could disclose so that they didn't share confidential trade secrets.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
6m

Prosecutor asks James Mattis if he thinks he's capable of keeping confidential trade secrets. Mattis replies, "I have maintained confidentiality of a lot of secrets in my career."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
3m

James Mattis says in the military sometimes confidential things get publicized, and when they do, the response is "Don’t talk about it anymore. You shouldn’t talk about that.... I wasn’t going to talk about something I wasn’t an expert in anyway."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2m

One of my favorite things about James Mattis' testimony so far, is that he said when he became a board member of Theranos, he went to the bookstore and bought books to learn about how to be a board member.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
6m

Mattis got an email from Theranos atty not to talk to then-WSJ reporter
@JohnCarreyrou
who Mattis says was "going after the co." Mattis says he doesn't know if Carreyrou tried to reach him. "I did not not take the phone call. I just don't remember him ever trying to talk to me."

 

[LinasK]

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
32m

James Mattis says the first Theranos board meeting he attended in October 2013 was "90% Ms. Holmes," and he doesn't remember Balwani always attending.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
19m

Mattis said the info presented to him during the board meeting impressed him and he thought the devices were better, faster and cheaper than competitors. Had he known otherwise, "it would have tempered my enthusiasm significantly," he says.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
11m

Mattis said after he retired from the military in March 2013, it might have had a "cooling" effect on his contribution to Theranos due to safe harbour rules restricting what he could contribute to the military.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
8m

Mattis says after he retired from the military, he told Holmes that "I did not want to be involved in the military aspect at all."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
7m

Prosecutor turned to
@rparloff
's Fortune Magazine article about Theranos. Mattis spoke to the journalist and said he asked what he could disclose so that they didn't share confidential trade secrets.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
6m

Prosecutor asks James Mattis if he thinks he's capable of keeping confidential trade secrets. Mattis replies, "I have maintained confidentiality of a lot of secrets in my career."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
3m

James Mattis says in the military sometimes confidential things get publicized, and when they do, the response is "Don’t talk about it anymore. You shouldn’t talk about that.... I wasn’t going to talk about something I wasn’t an expert in anyway."

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
2m

One of my favorite things about James Mattis' testimony so far, is that he said when he became a board member of Theranos, he went to the bookstore and bought books to learn about how to be a board member.

Dorothy Atkins@doratki·
6m

Mattis got an email from Theranos atty not to talk to then-WSJ reporter
@JohnCarreyrou
who Mattis says was "going after the co." Mattis says he doesn't know if Carreyrou tried to reach him. "I did not not take the phone call. I just don't remember him ever trying to talk to me."

I've gained alot of respect for General Mattis in the last year. If only he had researched the effectiveness of Theranos before investing and lending his name to it.

 

[Seattle1]

WSJ Live trial blog:

Elizabeth Holmes Trial: Live Updates

 

[Gardenista]

I'd just like to say that Dorothy Adkins may be the best trial live tweeter in the history of the world.