Theranos trial: Is Elizabeth Holmes’ domestic abuse defense the ultimate con?
Holmes spent years wooing investors and political leaders. Her lawyers probably feel good about putting her on the stand to face 12 of her peers.
Was the bold and confident founder of the blood-testing startup Theranos a long-suffering victim of an abusive boyfriend who controlled her every move and therefore not responsible for the epic meltdown of a company once valued at more than $9 billion? Court documents indicate that this is the story the disgraced Theranos CEO is hawking at her criminal trial.
Holmes is apparently prepared to claim that her boyfriend, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, controlled what she ate, when she slept and how she dressed, threw sharp objects at her, and monitored her text messages and emails.
It’s a strange departure for a business magnate who for years wore black turtlenecks to channel notoriously tough Apple founder Steve Jobs, portraying herself as a strong, confident woman who was proving all the doubters wrong: “First they think you're crazy, then they fight you, and then all of a sudden you change the world,” she once said in a televised interview.