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- Prosecutors have released some of Elizabeth Holmes’ texts with former Theranos COO Ramesh Balwani.
- The texts shed light on their past relationships and their efforts to deal with the crises threatening Theranos.
- A law professor explains how the defense and the prosecution might try to frame the texts.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
“All my Love.” “I miss you very much.”
This is how a text exchange between Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who was her former boyfriend as well as the former president and COO of Theranos.
Prosecutors in Holmes’ long-awaited fraud trial released six pages of text correspondence from the former couple on Tuesday evening that offer insight into their past romantic relationship. They also provide a window into their apparent infringement rush against those who have threatened to disseminate the company’s alleged false claims about its testing.
All of the messages posted to the dossier were sent between May and July 2015, shortly before Theranos’ catastrophic implosion.
- “You are the breeze in the desert to me. My water. And the ocean,” Holmes wrote in a series of texts to Balwani.
- “Wildly in love with you and your strength,” Holmes wrote to Balwani later that evening.
- “Ced on you [sic] terrible negative review from someone in the Newark lab probably from the bug lab. I am working to get it deleted, ”Balwani said in a text. ” I saw it. We will have them, ”replied Holmes. (Theranos had a lab in Newark, Calif.)
- “Feel like the luckiest person in the world in BC I have you,” Holmes wrote later today.
- “We will find a good answer to the questions and we can turn the tide,” Balwani said in another post.
- “Need to move on. Out of al [sic] the challenges are the greatest opportunities, ”Holmes wrote. “Once and for all, transcend all the bs,” she added later.
- “All my love,” Balwani wrote. “I miss you immeasurably,” replied Holmes.
The publication of the texts could call into question Holmes’ plans to accuse Balwani of abuse as part of his defense strategy. Previous court documents suggest Holmes will say that Balwani, who will face her own fraud trial in January, controlled her actions in a way that affected her state of mind as she allegedly made the false claims.
“The texts paint a portrait of a couple who love each other, appreciate each other’s thoughts and engage each other in a common pursuit,” said Cheryl Bader, professor of law at Fordham Law School and former assistant to the American attorney. “I think the jury will read these texts as evidence of an equal partnership in a close and loving relationship.”
Bader predicted some ways the prosecution and defense might try to use text messages to their advantage during the trial.
“These texts are a common thread of strategic planning interspersed with expressions of mutual affection and admiration which the prosecution says undermines Holmes’ claim that she was being controlled and abused,” Bader added. “The defense will warn the jury not to read too much in a text thread and could argue that this shows how dedicated, dependent and controlled Holmes was by Balwani.”
In other texts in the case, Holmes and Balwani appear to discuss strategies to alleviate concerns raised by former Theranos employees, including whistleblowers Tyler Shultz and Erika Cheung.
They also explain how they will deal with reports from John Carreyrou that the Theranos tests did not work as advertised. Months after the texts were sent, Carreyrou published a successful survey claiming Theranos’ devices could only perform a fraction of the tests they were touted for.
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