Elizabeth Holmes, founder and former CEO of Theranos, arrives for movement listening to on Monday, November 4, 2019, on the U.S. District Court docket Home inside Robert F. Peckham Federal Constructing in San Jose, California.
Yichuan Cao | NurPhoto | Getty Photos
Elizabeth Holmes’ attorneys strongly pushed again in opposition to the federal government’s makes an attempt to element her extravagant life-style earlier than a jury, saying the transfer “dangers invoking class prejudice” that’s irrelevant to her felony case.
Holmes, who’s going through a dozen felony wire fraud prices, earned a wage and advantages commensurate together with her place as CEO of Theranos, her attorneys wrote in court docket paperwork filed late Tuesday.
The federal government has argued that Holmes’ high-flying life-style was fueled by her fraud.
Her attorneys say that is easy unfaithful.
They write the proof says nothing about her motive, “if it did any CEO may very well be mentioned to have a motive to commit fraud. Reasonably the actual worth of the proof to the federal government is to color a (deceptive) image of Ms. Holmes as a girl who prioritized vogue, an opulent life-style, and fame, and to ask a referendum on startup and company tradition.”
Introducing particulars of Holmes’ spending, her attorneys wrote, could be a waste of time, including that her so-called luxurious journey lodging look like permitted by the Theranos board and justified by a busy journey schedule.
“Proof concerning the acquisition of pricey clothes, make-up and self-care merchandise, and different items (once more, none of that are alleged to be past her means), which the federal government intends to introduce by means of in any other case irrelevant emails by Ms. Holmes’ private assistants, doesn’t set up a motive to commit fraud” Holmes’ attorneys wrote, including that it as a substitute “seeks to inflame by interesting to stereotypes of sophistication and gender.”
Holmes usually wore a black turtleneck sweater, a picture she cultivated in print and broadcast media. Her attorneys level out that a lot of her clothes was bought for work occasions, including “the federal government ignores that Ms. Holmes was criticized for carrying the identical outfit every single day.”
Holmes’ attorneys argue her motive for being profitable as a CEO is “a proposition that might apply to anybody, whether or not wealthy or poor.”
Final month, prosecutors mentioned the truth that Holmes’ gained a wide range of tangible and intangible advantages “tends to point out that she supposed to defraud as a way to get hold of these advantages.”
Holmes, a Stanford dropout, had a six-figure wage and a billion greenback stake in Theranos till the corporate shut down in 2018.
One of many themes that has emerged within the authorities’s voluminous case filings has been that Holmes was extra motivated by cash and fame than revolutionizing the health-care trade.
