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Deceptive text messages between Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of blood testing startup Theranos, and her ex-boyfriend and former business partner have come to light – after the suspected fraudster accused her of emotional abuse.
“You are a breeze in the desert to me,” read a message to her then-boyfriend and Theranos COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani in May 2015.
“My water. And Ocean,” the texts continued.
The text messages were released by prosecutors during his trial on Tuesday.
Other passionate texts read: “Wildly in love with you and your strength” and “Feel like the luckiest person in the world in BC I have you”.
The exchanges took place just as Holmes faced questions from the Wall Street Journal, which was brewing an explosive story alleging that Theranos was overestimating the capabilities of its technology.
Prosecutors released the text messages as they prepared opening statements for Holmes’ fraud trial, which began on Wednesday.
In their opening statement, Holmes’ defense team described her as an innocent businesswoman whose company went bankrupt, and they reminded the jury that she was not running Theranos alone.
In unsealed documents last week, Holmes’ attorneys claimed she suffered a “ten-year campaign of psychological abuse” by Balwani, paving the way for Holmes to accuse her of organizing fraud when it takes a stand.
Holmes’ attorneys said in the documents that Balwani “controlled this [Holmes] was eating, how she dressed and how much money she could spend, who she could interact with – essentially dominating her and erasing her ability to make decisions.
Lawyers added that he had also restricted Holmes’ sleep, monitored her movements and insisted that “any success she got was because of him”.
The relationship amounted to “intimate partner violence,” the lawyers wrote, adding that “Holmes is likely to testify herself as to why she believed, relied on and deferred to Mr Balwani.”
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