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Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is asking for a new trial after being convicted on fraud charges earlier this year, now claiming that a witness for the prosecution came forward expressing regret over how his testimony against her was presented to the jury.
Attorneys for Holmes filed a motion in federal court Tuesday, citing “newly discovered evidence” pertaining to Dr. Adam Rosendorff, a former Theranos lab director and key government witness.
Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes goes through a security checkpoint as she arrives at federal court on Sept. 1, 2022 in San Jose, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)
According to the filing, Rosendorff called Holmes and one of her attorneys last month seeking a meeting before driving to the disgraced founder’s home and having a conversation with her partner, William Evans.
Holmes’ attorneys wrote that Rosendorff was “seemed to be in distress and his voice was trembling” when he first approached Evans on Aug. 8, and that the witness “explained that he wanted to speak to Ms. Holmes because it would be ‘healing for both himself and Elizabeth to talk.’”
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The document goes on claim Rosendorff told Evans that “when he was called as a witness, he tried to answer the questions honestly but that the prosecutors tried to make everyone look bad,” and that “the government made things sound worse than they were when he ask up on the stand during his testimony.”
Rosendorff also allegedly said that “Theranos was early in his and [Ms. Holmes’] career,” that “everyone was just doing the best they could,” and “everyone was working so hard to do something good and meaningful,” the document states.
Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos CEO and the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire, in an interview on September 29, 2015 (David Orrell/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images / Getty Images)
It goes on to claim Rosendorff said “he fe[lt] guilty” and that he “felt like he had done something wrong,” adding that “he stated that these issues were ‘weighing on him’ and that ‘he was having trouble sleeping.’”
Holmes’ lawyers argue in the filing that Rosendorff’s purported statements and “his concern with how the government presented his testimony — is newly discovered evidence” that in the very least warrants an evidentiary hearing if a new trial is not granted.
Holmes, 38, was convicted in January on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud after a jury found she deceived investors with claims that she had developed an innovative two blood-testing technology that could diagnose hundreds of diseases with just a few drops of blood.
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The jury determined Holmes was not guilty of a second conspiracy charge and not guilty on three fraud charges. They were unable to reach a unanimous decision on another three fraud charges.
Theranos raised more than $900 million at its peak, but things began to unravel after a Wall Street Journal expose revealed that the company’s tests were inaccurate and that it was secretly using traditional machines for its testing rather than its own technology.
Sunny Balwani, former president of Theranos Inc., arrives at federal court in San Jose, California, U.S., on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The company shuttered in 2018, and Holmes was indicted along with former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani the same year. Balwani, also Holmes’ former lover, was found guilty of 12 criminal fraud charges related to the scheme in July.
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The latest motion filed by Holmes’ attorneys comes as her sentencing date approaches on Oct. 17. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine plus restitution.
Earlier this year, Holmes asked the same court to overturn her conviction arguing that there was “insufficient” evidence for the jury to find her guilty. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila declined that request last week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
