Elizabeth Holmes plans to accuse ex-boyfriend of abuse at trial: NPR

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of blood testing start-up Theranos, plans to defend herself in her federal fraud trial starting next week by arguing that her ex-boyfriend, who was an executive at the company, emotionally and sexually assaulted her, damaging her state of mind at the time of the alleged crimes, according to newly unsealed legal documents in her case.

In documents released early Saturday, Holmes’ legal strategy was first described by lawyers involved in the case: She intends to blame Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, her ex-boyfriend and ex-boyfriend. Senior Theranos executive who has been indicted in a separate fraud trial, due to take place next year.

Holmes is likely to take the stand and testify at his trial, according to to his lawyers in court submissions.

The explosive revelations come on the eve of the trial of Holmes, who is accused of defrauding patients and investors into exploiting Theranos, a high-profile company that has vowed to revolutionize laboratory science and has attracted hundreds of million dollars in investments to implode when journalists and government regulators took a close look at the company’s exaggerated claims.

The new court documents, linked to legal arguments over whether Balwani should be tried separately or with Holmes, reveal to what extent Holmes is preparing to claim that Balwani controlled, manipulated and abused her.

In particular, Holmes is expected to describe at the trial how Balwani controlled how she ate, how she dressed and who she spoke with, according to one. deposit.

Holmes intends to say that Balwani monitored his calls, texts and emails and that he was physically violent, throwing “hard and sharp objects” at him.

Court documents also revealed that Holmes is on the verge of accusing Balwani of sexual abuse.

“This pattern of abuse and coercive control continued during the approximately ten-year span of the relationship between Ms. Holmes and Mr. Balwani, including during the period of the indicted conspiracies,” Elizabeth’s lawyers wrote. Holmes. in a folder.

Holmes’ attorneys plan to call psychologist Mindy Mechanic, an expert on domestic violence, who assessed Holmes for 14 hours. While his report details research into sexual and domestic violence, details of his assessment of Holmes have been redacted.

In the filings, Balwani’s attorney, Jeffrey Coopersmith, called Holmes’ allegations “salting and arson.”

“Ms. Holmes’ allegations are deeply offensive to Mr. Balwani, devastating to him personally,” Coopersmith wrote.

Holmes plans to argue that as a result of the alleged abuse, she suffers from several mental health issues, including domestic violence syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

The abuse allegations relate to the fraud charges because she is expected to argue that Balwani’s actions amounted to “dominating her and erasing her ability to make decisions,” including her ability to “deceive her victims”. court papers to say.

Holmes will not present an insanity defense, according to his lawyers in the new documents.

Instead, Holmes’ legal team wrote that she would demonstrate a “guilt mental disorder defense” resulting from domestic violence that impacted her “state of mind” in the past. time of the alleged crimes.

Jury selection in Holmes’ trial begins Tuesday in what is expected to be a multi-month trial to be held in San Jose, Calif.

An important question before the proceedings was whether Holmes will take the witness stand and testify directly to the jurors.

In documents filed on Saturday, Holmes’ legal team provided a response.

“Ms Holmes is likely to testify herself as to why she believed, relied on and referred to Mr Balwani,” her lawyers wrote.

The recently released documents were unsealed by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila, who is presiding over the Holmes case, after Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, asked the court to make the documents public. NPR was the first to report on the new documents.