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Mattis, in a San Jose federal courtroom, described believing so much in the company’s mission promise to test a range of conditions with just a few drops of blood he invested $ 85,000 in the startup. But he said that at one point, after careful consideration of the company’s testing capabilities, “I was at a loss what to believe about Theranos.”
“I did not see why we were surprised by such fundamental issues,” Mattis said during questioning of federal prosecutor John Bostic.
Holmes surrounded herself with a remarkable roster of prominent men during her tenure as CEO, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who would once have been the company’s biggest investor; David Boies, the eminent lawyer who was an investor, board member and legal advocate for Holmes and Theranos for a time; as well as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. All of them have been listed as witnesses that the government can call.
Mattis, who served on the board of the blood testing startup from 2013 to 2016, is the first of his well-known associates and the seventh overall witness to testify. Mattis, during cross-examination, said he personally helped Holmes provide security by recommending his former chief bodyguard in response to concerns raised by another powerful ally of Holmes, the former Secretary of State George Shultz.
During Mattis’ cross-examination, Holmes was still sitting in the courtroom with a blue mask covering her face, frequently blinking.
Mattis’ testimony comes as the government continues to build its case against Holmes in an attempt to convince jurors that she intended to mislead investors, patients and doctors about her company’s capabilities and its proprietary blood testing technology in order to take their money.
Holmes faces a dozen federal fraud and conspiracy charges, and up to 20 years in prison. She pleaded not guilty.
The defense, for its part, argued that Holmes, who founded Theranos in 2003 at the age of 19 with the noble mission of revolutionizing blood testing, was an ambitious young CEO whose company failed but that failure. is not a crime.
Once hailed as the next Steve Jobs, Holmes catapulted his startup to a $ 9 billion valuation on the promise that his technology could effectively test conditions like cancer and diabetes with just a few drops of blood taken from a finger prick. . Lending the star power to his company was a board of directors filled with military and intelligence professionals.
Holmes has secured key business partners such as Walgreens and Safeway, and has been hailed on magazine covers as the richest self-taught woman. Then things fell apart after a Wall Street Journal investigation into Theranos’ technology and testing methods attracted further scrutiny.
According to the indictment, Holmes and COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who is facing a separate trial on the same charges and who has also pleaded not guilty, allegedly told the investors that Theranos had a profitable and income-generating business relationship with the United States. United States Department of Defense and that its technology had been deployed on the battlefield. “In truth, Theranos had limited income from military contracts and his technology was not deployed on the battlefield,” the indictment said.
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