If you’ve followed the saga of Theranos, and its bizarre founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes closely during the rise, peak and subsequent fall of the company it’s pretty easy to assume the low-talking, Steve Jobs wannabe is going to do some jail time for what appears to e massive fraud.
Her trial is about to get underway in San Jose, and word is she’s got a pretty interesting defense strategy she and her legal team are about to unleash.
Newly released documents filed in court which have been under seal for almost two years were made public after the ownership group of the Wall Street Journal went to court to get their eyes on them. In these docs lie the details of what Holmes could claim when the trial starts Tuesday.
She may argue that she was in an abusive relationship with the former president of Theranos Sunny Balwani, which left her under his control during the time Fram that the justice department claims she and Balwani committed felonious fraud.
According to Holmes, she claims the abuse she suffered from Balwani, who was her boyfriend, romantic partner and business partner was sexual, emotional and psychological.
In other words, Holmes didn’t make the criminal decisions, she was controlled by Balwani, who she claims told her when to eat, what to wear, when to sleep, an doing other things like monitoring her text messages.
Balwani isn’t schedule to go to trial on his charges until next year, but those newly unsealed documents contain documents where Balwani “unequivocally denies the he engaged in any abuse at any time.”
Holmes met Balwani when she was a student at Stanford. They kept their sexual relationship on the down low so board members, investors and employees wouldn’t know.
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