San Jose, California: Former US Defense Secretary James Mattis testified on Wednesday at the trial of fallen tech star Elizabeth Holmes, saying the entrepreneur misled him into believing he was on the verge of launching a blood-testing success. but, which he hoped would help save the lives of soldiers in the war.
Mattis’ appearance came during the sixth day of a high-profile trial in San Jose, California. The US government alleges that Holmes deceived sophisticated investors, patients and customers into believing that his startup, Theranos, had developed a technology that scanned for an array of potential health problems with just a few drops of blood. can. Existing tests typically require one vial of blood each.
During three hours of testimony given behind plexiglass, Mattis recalled how impressed he was with Holmes when he first met Holmes in 2011, while serving as a four-star general in the Marine Corps, where he visited Iraq and He oversaw the American wars in Afghanistan.
A few months after retiring from the military in 2013, Mattis joined Theranos board and also invested some of his savings in the startup. In 2017, Mattis joined President Donald Trump’s cabinet.
Mattis, nicknamed the Mad Dog, “when he was in the military,” testified that Holmes initially struck him as a fast, outspoken, committed “CEO”, which sparked his interest, describing a compact blood-testing machine called the Edison. Drew, which Theranos was developing.
Holmes assured him that Edison would be able to scan for health problems with just the prick of a finger, a concept that Matisse testified he found too intriguing for its potential applications in the field of warfare.
I have a strong belief in what you designed/built and hope we can get it to test in theaters soon,” Mattis wrote in a March 2013 email shortly before retiring from the military .
Mattis, a lawyer for Holmes, at cross-examination showed a July 2013 email from the retired general that suggested he had muted expectations for Theranos’ influence on the military. The US military may be a customer, but likely not immediately, or largely,” Mattis wrote while seeking approval to be on Theranos board.
In another email submitted by public prosecutors during Mattis’ testimony, Holmes encouraged his belief in what Theranos could do for the military. This initiative is just a small way to be able to serve and we will do everything we can to make it a success,” Holmes assures him in his email.
As Mattis testified, Holmes looked at her carefully without showing much emotion.
Holmes, 37, persuaded Mattis, 71, to join Theranos’ board of directors later in 2013, even though he had no medical background. Mattis testified that Holmes wanted him to help teach her about leadership and team building.
In addition to joining the board, Mattis said he also decided to invest $85,000 of his own savings so that he could have some skin in the game.” According to evidence presented by Holmes’ attorneys, Theranos asked him to board the board. paid $150,000 a year as a member of the U.S., although Mattis testified that he told Holmes he would do it for free because I believe that’s what you’re doing.
By the time he left Theranos in late 2016, Mattis testified that he had lost faith in Holmes. His disillusionment began a year ago after a series of explosive articles published in The Wall Street Journal highlighted troubling flaws and inaccuracies in Theranos’ blood-testing technology. Those revelations started Theranos’ downfall and culminated in a criminal case against Holmes, which could send him up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
There got to be a point where I didn’t know what else to believe about Theranos,” Mattis said, though he couldn’t pinpoint an exact date when he lost faith in Holmes.
Mattis isn’t the only famous board member or investor who became fascinated by Holmes and Theranos.
Other board members of Theranos included other former cabinet members such as the late George Schultz, Henry Kissinger, William Perry and former Wells Fargo Bank CEO Richard Kovacevich. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Walmart’s Walton family, and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison were on the list of billionaire investors valuing the privately held company, with half the stock owned by Holmes.
Some of them are expected to testify during the trial that runs till December 17.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
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