Federal Judge Dismisses Some Charges Against Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes

Late on Tuesday, a Federal judge dropped several charges against former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes but allowed wire fraud charges to stand. The wire fraud charges accuse Holmes and her former boy-toy, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, of misleading patients about the abilities of Theranos’ blood tests.

The court ruled that since the tests were paid by customers’ medical insurance companies, that the patients were not deprived of any money or property in using Theranos’ blood testing services, according to Reuters. The court also found that there was “no evidence” to show that Holmes and Balwani directed doctors to make misrepresentations to their patients. 

The indictment alleges that Holmes and Balwani knew that Theranos was not capable of consistently producing accurate results, yet they encouraged doctors and patients to use their tests regardless. They were both indicted in June of 2018 on 11 counts of conspiracy and wire fraud. 

Recall, about two weeks ago, we noted that Holmes literally phoned in her defense in an Arizona fraud lawsuit after her civil lawyers quit due to non-payment. 

Holmes still maintains a team of “high caliber” attorneys for her criminal case in San Jose federal court. But in the concurrent civil suit taking place in Phoenix, Holmes was forced to dial into an audio feed without a lawyer several weeks ago, telling the judge she wouldn’t make any arguments.

The civil hearing, which ended without a decision, was to try and determine whether or not the case should advance as a class action. The judge asked Holmes at the beginning of the hearing if she wanted to make any arguments and Holmes said she was relying on the arguments made by attorneys for her co-defendants. 

The lawyers representing her in Arizona quit back in September, claiming Holmes hasn’t paid them. As Bloomberg noted at the time, “it’s highly unusual for a defendant of Holmes’s stature in such a suit to not be represented by an attorney, prompting some speculation on her financial situation.”