Post by Admin on Dec 3, 2021 20:34:10 GMT
When Elizabeth Holmes got wind that then-Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou was working on a damning expose that would publish in October 2015 about her blood testing startup Theranos, she went straight to the top in an effort to get the story killed.
Holmes, who is on trial over criminal fraud charges, testified Tuesday that she appealed to media mogul and Theranos investor Rupert Murdoch to see if she could have him throw his weight behind her fight over the Journal story. Murdoch is the executive chairman of News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal.
"You personally went to the owner of The Wall Street Journal to try to get him to quash the story, isn't that correct?" assistant US attorney Robert Leach asked the former Theranos CEO in the San Jose federal courtroom where she has been on the witness stand testifying in her own defense for the past five days of the trial.
"I did," Holmes testified.
Holmes acknowledged her outreach to Murdoch came after the law firm of Theranos investor, board member and legal counsel David Boies had attempted to intervene. Holmes testified that Boies had been "actively meeting with people at the Journal" and writing to them. "I don't know if he was threatening litigation," she said.
The prosecution displayed an email she sent to Murdoch one month before the story published: "I thought that were I in your shoes I would want to know/be in the loop on this one," Holmes wrote to Murdoch.
"It was part of my effort to get Mr. Murdoch to make sure that our trade secrets were not published," Holmes testified. Leach replied: "You keep injecting trade secrets, and I promise we will get to trade secrets."
Murdoch reportedly sunk $125 million into Theranos, making him one of the company's largest individual investors. He was listed as a possible government witness but was not called to testify during its 11-week case against Holmes.
Holmes, a Stanford University dropout who founded Theranos in 2003 at age 19, is facing nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud over allegations she knowingly misled doctors, patients, and investors about her company's blood testing capabilities in order to take their money. Now 37, she faces up to 20 years in prison, as well as a fine of $250,000, plus restitution, for each count of wire fraud and each conspiracy count. She has pleaded not guilty.
Holmes, who is on trial over criminal fraud charges, testified Tuesday that she appealed to media mogul and Theranos investor Rupert Murdoch to see if she could have him throw his weight behind her fight over the Journal story. Murdoch is the executive chairman of News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal.
"You personally went to the owner of The Wall Street Journal to try to get him to quash the story, isn't that correct?" assistant US attorney Robert Leach asked the former Theranos CEO in the San Jose federal courtroom where she has been on the witness stand testifying in her own defense for the past five days of the trial.
"I did," Holmes testified.
Holmes acknowledged her outreach to Murdoch came after the law firm of Theranos investor, board member and legal counsel David Boies had attempted to intervene. Holmes testified that Boies had been "actively meeting with people at the Journal" and writing to them. "I don't know if he was threatening litigation," she said.
The prosecution displayed an email she sent to Murdoch one month before the story published: "I thought that were I in your shoes I would want to know/be in the loop on this one," Holmes wrote to Murdoch.
"It was part of my effort to get Mr. Murdoch to make sure that our trade secrets were not published," Holmes testified. Leach replied: "You keep injecting trade secrets, and I promise we will get to trade secrets."
Murdoch reportedly sunk $125 million into Theranos, making him one of the company's largest individual investors. He was listed as a possible government witness but was not called to testify during its 11-week case against Holmes.
Holmes, a Stanford University dropout who founded Theranos in 2003 at age 19, is facing nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud over allegations she knowingly misled doctors, patients, and investors about her company's blood testing capabilities in order to take their money. Now 37, she faces up to 20 years in prison, as well as a fine of $250,000, plus restitution, for each count of wire fraud and each conspiracy count. She has pleaded not guilty.