Elizabeth Holmes is asking for a new trial after a star government witness allegedly went to her house last month and said he was losing sleep over his testimony that helped convict her
Reuters/Stephen Lam
- Elizabeth Holmes has requested a new trial. She was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in a months-long trial that ended in January.
- Her partner, Billy Evans, says one of the government's star witnesses showed up at their house last month, saying he was losing sleep over his testimony.
- Last week, the judge in Holmes' case tentatively denied her prior request to toss her conviction.
Elizabeth Holmes is trying to ditch her guilty verdict, and a key witness in her trial may have just given her some ammo in that fight.
On Tuesday, the Theranos founder filed a motion requesting a new trial based on "newly discovered evidence." Holmes had been convicted on counts of fraud and conspiracy in January.
According to the motion, Adam Rosendorff, who was Theranos' lab director from April 2013 to November 2014 and a key witness for the prosecution in Holmes' trial, made attempts to contact her last month, expressing regret about his testimony against her.
On August 8, Rosendorff left a voicemail for Holmes' attorney, Lance Wade. In it, he asked to see Holmes, saying such a meeting would be "quite healing" for both of them. Later that day, Rosendorff showed up at Holmes' house, according to an account of the incident from Billy Evans, Holmes' partner.
"My first thought was he was lost, he looked disheveled," Evans recalled in an email to three of Holmes' attorneys, filed with the motion, that documents their interaction. "His hair was untucked, his hair was messy, his voice slightly trembled."
Evans said Rosendorff kept asking to speak with Holmes.
Evans wrote of his encounter with Rosendorff: "He said he feels guilty, it seemed like he was hurting. He said when he was called as a witness he tried to answer the questions honestly but that the prosecutors tried to make everybody look bad (in the company). He said that the government made things sound worse than they were when he was up on the stand during his testimony. He said he felt like he had done something wrong. And that this was weighing on him, He said he was having trouble sleeping."
Rosendorff remarked that he and Holmes were friends, and he wanted to help her, according to Evans' email.
"He said Theranos was early in his and her career, that he had just finished residency, and that everyone was working so hard to do something good and meaningful," Evans recalled. "He said that everyone was just doing the best they could."
Based on the new development, Holmes' team wants a new trial or an evidentiary hearing where Rosendorff would be subpoenaed to "testify about his concerns."
The new motion comes just days after the judge in Holmes' case tentatively denied her request to throw out her conviction on the grounds of "insufficient evidence."
During Holmes' trial, Rosendorff had testified that he'd tried to delay the launch of Theranos' machines for patient use because they produced inaccurate results, but Holmes went ahead with it anyway.
He also said he was asked to come up with "reasons other than test performance" to explain unusual test results and that Theranos had no formal proficiency testing protocol.
During the trial, the court saw an email Rosendorff had sent Holmes in November 2014, in which he wrote, "I feel really uncomfortable with what is happening right now in this company. I am feeling pressured to vouch for results that I cannot be confident in."