US federal judges discussed legal issues to address an attempt to overturn Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' fraud conviction on Tuesday.
About 2 1/2 years had passed since Holmes' conviction for running a blood-testing fraud through Theranos. After leaving Stanford in 2003, Elizabeth Holmes created the health tech company in Palo Alto, California, to improve healthcare.
Holmes, serving 11 years of prison time in Bryan, Texas, skipped the hearing, but her parents, as well as Billy Evans, the father of her two small children, attended, according to AP News. Three federal prosecutors from the initial trial, including Jeffrey Schenk and John Bostic, now private lawyers, were in attendance.
Appeals court judges Jacqueline Nguyen, Ryan Nelson, and Mary Schroeder of the appeals court stated that compelling evidence would be required to overturn the jury's verdict, but they provided few specifics.
Elizabeth Holmes' attorney, Amy Saharia, said that the jury acquitted Holmes on four charges and deadlocked on three others, warranting an inquiry. The court gave no deadline for the verdict, which may take weeks or years.
Holmes' Lawyers Point Out Trial Flaws
Holmes' legal team argued they should have cross-examined Adam Rosendorff about his qualifications. It provided additional information to discredit him, including details of a federal probe into his work after Theranos. These flaws may have contributed to the "close" case, in which jurors failed to reach a judgment on most Holmes counts after seven days.
The government's Assistant U.S. Attorney, Kelly Volkar, replied that Rosendorff testified based on his firsthand experience at Theranos and that the equipment failed.
The judges posed suspicious questions to both parties without signaling a decision. Even without the challenged testimony, Circuit Judge Ryan Nelson found "pretty overwhelming evidence." Rosendorff spoke mostly about his corporate views, not scientific conclusions, according to Circuit Judges Jacqueline Nguyen and Mary Schroeder, according to The Guardian.
Elizabeth Holmes Regret Actions
Once, a famous healthcare company, Theranos, claimed their equipment could screen for hundreds of ailments with a few drops of blood. However, the technology failed, causing the company's bankruptcy and criminal accusations against Holmes and her former business partner, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani.
Prosecutors challenged the "fake-it-till-you-make-it" attitude of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. A separate trial convicted Balwani on all counts, resulting in a sentence of nearly is 13 years in prison.
When Elizabeth Holmes received her sentence in November 2022, she told U.S. District Judge Edward Davila that if given the chance, she would have done many things differently. She admitted to regretting her mistakes "with every cell" in her body, as previously reported by TechTimes.
Judge Davila gave Holmes credit for her brilliance but stressed that her ambition and greed caused investors to assume her firm could do more.
