Judge considers giving Elizabeth Holmes a new trial

Judge considers giving Elizabeth Holmes a new trial
Elizabeth Holmes arrives for motion hearing at the U.S. District Court House in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 4, 2019. (Photo by /NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the health technology company Theranos, continues to make headlines as she takes on fraud charges against her. This past January, she was found guilty of defrauding investors. Facing 20 years in prison, Holmes was convicted on four out of 11 counts of fraud. In a nutshell, Holmes claimed that Theranos’ technology could diagnose major diseases (like cancer and diabetes) with just a little bit of blood. But, the tech totally didn’t work.

On Monday, a judge ordered a hearing to see if prosecutors engaged in misconduct with a major witness who has shown regret over his testimony. The witness, Adam Rosendorff, was a lab director for Theranos who testified for the prosecution. According to Holmes, he later visited her house and apologized for contributing to her conviction.

Now, Holmes’s sentencing date has been moved as the judge decides whether or not to grant her a new trial. A new hearing on the issue will happen on the original date that Holmes was supposed to be sentenced, October 17. Since Rosendorff visited Holmes, he has signed a new statement with the prosecution that supports his initial testimony.

Key comments:

In her September filing for a new trial, Holmes’s lawyers claim that Rosendorff said “he tried to answer the questions honestly but that the prosecutors tried to make everyone look bad," adding that he felt “he had done something wrong."

According to John Bostic, an assistant US Attorney, “Nothing [Rosendorff] has learned since giving his testimony has changed his recollection of the events he witnessed at Theranos."

“I knew [Holmes] had this brilliant idea and that she had managed to convince all these investors and scientists. She was self-assured, but when I asked her several questions about her technology she didn’t look like she understood. It seemed a bit odd, but I didn’t come away thinking it was a fraud," said Dr. Jeffrey Flier, the former dean of Harvard Medical School, who met Holmes in 2015.