(CNN Business)A criminal fraud trial by Elizabeth Holmes' former boyfriend and former Theranos deputy commander is heading for a jury trial. Approximately three months after being launched in the same court in San Jose, California, she was convicted of four charges of fraudulent investors.
In closing arguments that began on Tuesday and lasted almost four days, prosecutors emphasized many ways claimed that former Theranos COO and former President Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani helped the fraud directly. I tried. Investors and patients with Holmes over the years. The prosecutor pointed out various emails, text messages, and witness testimonies reviewed during the trial, highlighting Barwani's essential role in the company and his intimate knowledge of startup failures.
On the other hand, the defense argued that the government had carefully selected information and that there was not enough evidence to prove its claim. It is said to believe in Theranos and Holmes like Balwani, and offended many celebrities who invested time and money in business like Balwani.
Balwani's fate is determined by 12 juries. Some juries took a ton of notes, while others stared at the lawyers taking turns presenting the final discussion.
Like Holmes, Balwani will be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine and compensation for each number of federal telegraph frauds and plots. Faced with a total of 12 counts, Balwani pleaded not guilty.
Holmes, who had been in a four-month trial, including a jury trial, was found guilty of four charges related to dealings with investors, but the jury was found guilty of patient fraud. He was acquitted of a related crime. (There were three additional wire frauds related to other investors that the jury disagreed and the judge declared suspicious. One accusation related to the patient was due to an error by the prosecution. Thrown.)
{31 Holmes' decision was set tolate Septemberto give enough time for the Balwani trial to be completed. Judge Edward Davila presided over both cases.Behind-the-scenes power of Theranos
Now 57 years old, Balwani came to the United States on his student visa, enjoyed a successful career in the software industry, and finally launched his own e-commerce company. According to her lawyer, as a result of her sale, she went to school to get an MBA after she no longer had to work. In 2002, he met his junior Holmes for nearly 20 years, and the two participated in a mandarin study program in Beijing. In 2004, Holmes dropped out of his sophomore year at Stanford University and worked on Theranos.
By 2005, the two had lived together. Balwani played a formal role in Theranos in 2009 after guaranteeing a $ 10 million loan to the company. Their relationship was largely hidden from investors, employees and business partners. During the
"He influenced everything about who I am, and I don't fully understand it," Holmes testified.
Recently, the relationship between Balwani and Holmes has been drawn prominently in "dropouts". This is a full, limited series premiered before his trial began.
Still, the Balwani trial received far less attention than the Holmes trial, which attracted the early morning crowds for days, including when she stood up to testify.
Government proceedings
In the opening statement in late March, the government planned a proceeding against Balwani, much like the proceedings against Holmes.
"This is a fraud, a case of lying or cheating for money and property," Assistant U.S. Prosecutor Robert Reach told the jury. Balwani and Holmes added that they were "all partners, including crime."
Reach argued to the media, business partners and investors that "false statements and half-belief" were made to make money for Theranos. Reach elicited "fame and worship" with Balwani and Holmes in their claims and the ability to raise the company's name recognition, but "the rosy they said to investors that it was against the reality within Theranos. I knew the falsehood. "
In closing arguments, U.S. federal prosecutor Jeffrey Schenck said that Balwani helped manage the company, which was key to allegations of fraud, including lab supervision and responsibility for its relationship with Walgreens. I checked various important parts. Like Holmes, Balwani also contacted directly with some investors who testified during the trial.
"Theranos are not victims. He is the perpetrator of fraud. Mr. Balwani knows that the greatest threat to fraud is true," Schenck said. Pointing out the witness's testimony, he "disputed" or removed a former employee who once raised a question about Theranos' business.
Defense
Defense turned his finger to others, including Holmes, to file a proceeding against the jury.
"Sunny Balwani didn't start Theranos, he didn't control Theranos, he didn't have the final business decision-making power in Theranos," Orrick Herrington's lawyer Stephen Theranos said&Satcliff's opening statement.
The defense emphasized Balwani's career, his strengths, and his credentials to convince him that he had no intention of deceiving the jury. It showed Balwani's previous professional and financial success and his decision not to join the startup until a few years after Holmes founded the company.
"He joined Theranos because he believed in Theranos's technique and groundbreaking mission. He didn't join Theranos because Elizabeth was a girlfriend," Balwani said. Cazares points out that he is devoted to bringing about. life. "Sunny worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for more than 6 years to make it successful."
Closing arguments, Orrick's defense counsel Jeffrey Coopersmith, Herrington {140. } Satcliff emphasized that Balwani is a good companion when it comes to those who have embraced Holmes' vision. Early supporters of Holmes included Oracle founder Larry Ellison and legendary Silicon Valley investor Don Lucas. Channing Robertson, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford University, was the first board member of Theranos.
Balwani worked for Theranos in May 2016 and left the company as he scrutinized.
According to jury trial Jill Huntley Taylor, Balwani faces a different perceptual hurdle in the eyes of the jury who discussed her case than Holmes faced. There is a high possibility that it is. "It's hard for a jury to believe that someone of his age, height, experience, or personality will be the only decision maker to hand over everything to Elizabeth Holmes from what the employee [said]," Huntley said.・ Taylor said.
"In the case of scientific fraud, you need to have scientific data on what this is," Cooper Smith said in his closing statement.
The defense called on two witnesses, a doctor in Arizona and a technical consultant who testified about the database, to testify in the event of the incident. According to court testimony, in response to a government subpoena, Theranos handed over an encrypted hard drive with a password in 2018, but had a separate private key needed to access the database itself. The government did not later discover that another key was needed. Meanwhile, after handing over the encrypted drive, Theranos ordered the physical server containing the database to be dismantled, and the government couldn't finally confirm the material.
Schenck tried to convince the jury in closing arguments of the government that the missing database was red herring. "I'm guessing. Assuming the evidence in LIS [Laboratory Information Management Database]helps Mr. Balwani. Pause for a while and thank it."
Another notable difference between the two exams is that, unlike Holmes, Balwani did not run.
"It is his constitutional right and cannot be used in any way against him or determined that he is guilty of anything," Cooper Smith said. I told the jury.
White-collar lawyer and former federal prosecutor Mark McDagal said, "It is quite rare to be acquitted in a white-collar trial that the defendant does not testify." As he said, "The central question for the jury is almost always intentional and they want to hear from the defendants."
-CNN's Rishi Iyengar and Augie Martin contributed to the report