The former CEO, who risks up to 20 years in prison if convicted, blamed Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani for much of Theranos’ deceit, despite admitting that she was the sole decision-maker.
Holmes, 37, testified before the defense rested on Wednesday, addressing questioning from her lawyer Kevin Downey and casting Balwani as a swindler who took advantage of her relative inexperience.
“Who was your most trusted advisor?” Downey inquired.
“Sunny was,” Holmes responded, denying that she defrauded patients and financiers out of millions of dollars while intentionally developing a flawed testing gadget to profit herself.
Holmes also told the court that she “tried not to combust” Balwani, Theranos’ president and chief operating officer, in their text-messaging correspondence.
Under cross-examination by prosecutor Robert Leach, Elizabeth Holmes denied defrauding patients and investors out of millions of dollars.
“Sunny would frequently let off steam or vent through text,” Holmes explained. “I was attempting to be helpful.”
Downey inquired of Holmes whether Balwani had condemned Theranos personnel as “incompetent.”
“He did,” Holmes added, noting that Balwani had criticized her performance as well.
Earlier in her statement, Holmes told the panel that being raped while a student at Stanford University drove her to drop college and focus her efforts on developing the firm. When she eventually began dating Balwani, she testified, “he assured I was safe now that I had met him.”
However, she went on to say that Balwani reportedly continued an abusive cycle in which he regulated most aspects of her life, including how she operated Theranos.
Holmes, who is over 20 years younger than Balwani, said that Balwani taught her on how to conduct and speak, and encouraged her to follow a tight daily schedule and diet.
If convicted, Elizabeth Holmes (middle) faces up to 20 years in jail.In the closing moments of her testimony on Wednesday, Holmes repeated that she never tried to deceive investors, although admitting that they lost money while she was in charge.”I wanted to change the company’s impact on people and health care,” Holmes explained. “There were long-term investors present, and I wanted to speak about what this company could do a year from now, five years from now, and ten years from now.”The trial’s closing arguments are scheduled to commence on December 16.
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