Who added the logos of Pfizer and Schering-Plough to the lab reports that investors received? Why, no other than ElizabethHolmes.
She said on the stand that she was trying to convey that the work was done in partnership with those companies. She added the logos before sending the memos to Walgreens. She said that Holmes was not trying to fool anyone. I wish I had done it differently.
I wish I had done it differently.
As she confessed, she spoke slowly. She gave her testimony on the third day of questioning. Rehearsed. She sounded confident all day.
The documents were a big part of the case against her. The investors thought the documents were created by the pharma companies. The drug company wanted to give more accurate and precise results than the current gold standard reference methods, but the language in the memo changed.
Maybe the confession was meant to make it sound more serious when she passed the buck.
The lab is used for clinical research.
The lab director, VP, and CFO were responsible for the clinical lab, implying that whatever happened there wasn't her fault. Maybe she wasn't aware of the problems. Her speech sped up as she talked about the lab conditions. She denied that she pressured Rosendorff to approve the tests. Had not pressured Young. Hadn't pressured anyone to sign off on a lab report they didn't want to sign.
That wasn't her, whatever had happened in the lab was not her.
When Rosendorff raised concerns about the schedule, I told him that we would do everything we could to give him the time he needed to bring up the tests properly. The tests were delayed for months.
This was not the way to treat people.
What about scientist Surekha Gangakhedkar, who was afraid of being blamed for Theranos' problems? Well, gee, Holmes had no idea Gangakhedkar had reservations about the tests. Holmes did not directly address Gangakhedkar's testimony that he pressured her to approve tests. Stress and health issues were cited when the scientist resigned. Health issues can be caused by stress.
The scientist quit afterHolmes tried to convince him to take a leave of absence. One of the reasons Gangakhedkar was stressed was because of an email from Balwani, which scolded her for not working hard enough. He wrote that the software team was here until 3AM and was here now at 10AM.
She wished she had handled it differently. This was not the way to treat people.
The employees who testified in the trial said that the working environment at Theranos was bad. The entry-level employee testified that people slept in their cars as they tried to address problems with quality control. One of her team members also quit citing stress. An email from a human resources employee said Surekha came by and said she believed Tina was leaving because of health reasons. She said it was similar to the reasons she was leaving.
There are questionable marketing materials.
The marketing of Theranos that the prosecution argued deceived people about its technology was done by the same firm that did the Apple ad. The images that conveyed the message of Theranos were symbols that were told to be adopted for their brand identity by Chiat Day. The firm said that images were important for identity.
She reviewed the article before publication.
She admits that she wasn't in charge of shaping the image of Theranos. The Wall Street Journal's opinion section featured a story about how amazing Theranos was, titled: "Elizabeth Holmes: The breakthrough of Instant Diagnosis."
Rago wrote in the article that Theranos processes are faster, cheaper and more accurate than the conventional methods and require only tiny blood volumes. This article was part of the marketing materials that were sent to investors.
The press strategy was to introduce Theranos before announcing its partnership with Walgreens. You know, the one that was sent the reports. The roll-out strategy was written about by Holmes. Theranos will open its testing locations in 3,000 stores over the next two years.
There is a slow roll-out at Walgreens.
The roll-out was slowed because so many tests had been done on venous draws, instead of the fingersticks Theranos had promised, according to a former Walgreens executive.
The roll-out went well in the early part of the year. Only 40 service centers opened by the end of the year. Walgreens had made an acquisition and all the Walgreens execs had been replaced, so that wasn't the fault ofHolmes.
Weird financial projections.
Balwani prepared the financial projections that investors were told were more profitable than they actually were. Balwani built a model with a number of assumptions about how many stores Theranos would roll out to and other work with physicians and hospital systems.
Balwani was the primary contact for Daniel Grossman. In meetings where both Balwani andHolmes attended,Holmes did most of the talking.
There are problems with Safeway.
Part of the failed attempt to open stores in Safeway was an executive changeover. Steven Burd, the former Safeway CEO, testified that he was troubled by the frequent delays of Theranos, but he never heard of a problem with the tech. Balwani dealt with them after he retired.
On the first day, the defense announced its strategy: pass the buck. The gamble was that if she admitted her guilt in the doctored memos, she would be more credible. When she admitted her role in the memos and when she blamed others, her demeanor was different. For the first time in the trial, she looked nervous.
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