Tuesday morning the Elizabeth Holmes fraud trial started its second day after yet another jury setback. The judge on the case excused a juror, citing financial hardship, moving up another from one of the five alternates already selected.
The trial was postponed last week after one of the jurors notified presiding U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila of a possible COVID-19 exposure.
The juror was reportedly not experiencing symptoms, but the judge took the break as a precaution.
The five alternates on deck are slightly higher than usual, but is most likely an acknowledgment of the possible challenges that might come with the pandemic. "We might over the next three or four months lose a juror to various problems," said Erin Griffith, a reporter with the New York Times covering the trial with KCBS Radio’s Rebecca Corral.
"Luckily we don’t have to start from scratch even though we only heard half a witness so far," she said.
The fraud trial of former Silicon Valley rising star Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, which fell apart after it was revealed its blood-testing technology didn’t work, has heard from one witness so far, a woman who served as the "controller" or CFO at Theranos for many years.
Her testimony was fairly detailed, according to Griffith, on what the company’s revenue was, what investors were told the revenue was, etc. Her purpose is most likely to demonstrate how Holmes was very much involved in the company’s finances.
"We’re getting a financial picture of Theranos from 2010 and 2015," said Griffith. The testimony included how cash-strapped the company was at certain times, and how quickly they burned through money, at “almost $2 million a week in some cases.”
The defense has begun by arguing that Holmes made mistakes, and that failure is not necessarily a crime in itself.
Although it has been hinted at, the defense has not yet mounted the strategy already reported on by many, that Holmes was abused by her partner and former boyfriend Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, and that he was the one controlling the reins of the company.
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