Elizabeth Holmes defense attorneys shift some blame of lab problems onto former lab director

Elizabeth Holmes Theranos trial — Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes (center) arrives at federal court in San Jose, California on Aug. 31, 2021. [Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Former Theranos lab director Adam Rosendorff took the stand again in the Elizabeth Holmes federal fraud trial to face cross-examination from the defense.

Holmes’ defense attorney Lance Wade alleged that the issues in the lab were a result of Rosendorff’s “incompetence,” Mercury News reports.

“To the extent that failures in the lab are the result of incompetence of someone other than my client, it’s exculpatory for my client,” Holmes’ defense attorney Lance Wade said, Mercury News reports.

Rosendorff testified that he was under “tremendous pressure” to show that the Theranos blood-testing technology worked and was successful, CNBC reports. He said the pressure came from the top and went all the way through research and development.

Rosendorff reiterated some of his previous testimony in which he alleged that Holmes wanted to expand the use of Theranos’ Edison devices from the time of its launch in Walgreens stores through the rest of his tenure at the company, according to multiple media reports.

Defense attorney Wade cross-examined Rosendorff and attempted to connect him to the re-testing of 50,000 patients at a company that he worked at after his stint at Theranos. The re-tests were the result of “unreliable test results” and that Rosendorff eventually left that company as well after the results were disclosed. Federal prosecutor John Bostic argued that the patients who were re-tested out of caution reported that only two to 15 people had been affected by inaccurate results.

Wade alleged that Rosendorff’s current employer PerkinElmer has received notices of “serious deficiencies” in the lab and Rosendorff’s work from federal prosecutors, Mercury News reports. The defense also brought up that Rosendorff was fired from another failed Silicon Valley startup, uBiome, for not showing up for work.

Prosecutor Bostic argued that Rosendorff’s work at other companies are not relevant to the lab work done at Theranos and that there is no connection between Rosendorff’s Theranos testimony and the federal investigation of uBiome.

Rosendorff previously testified that Holmes and former Theranos president Sunny Balwani knew about the inaccuracies of Theranos’ Edison devices prior to its launch in Walgreens stores. He alleged that he left the company after a year and a half because he felt that the problems weren’t going to be addressed.

He is expected to wrap up his time on the witness stand today.

Holmes and Theranos were once believed to be the next shining stars of Silicon Valley. Holmes claimed her company would revolutionize blood testing with technology that could analyze tiny amounts of blood and inked retail partnerships with Walgreens and Safeway. Forbes in 2015 recognized Holmes as America’s richest self-made woman based on Theranos’ multibillion-dollar valuation at the time.

Investigative reporting soon dismantled Holmes’ technological claims, raising questions about whether she and others misled investors. The downward spiral culminated in the 2018 shutdown of the company, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accusing Holmes and Balwani of what it described as a “massive fraud.”

Holmes, along with Balwani, faces 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud over allegations that she knowingly misled investors by claiming Theranos technology could revolutionize blood testing. They have both pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Balwani’s trial is expected to follow the Holmes trial.

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