It has been said that Elizabeth Holmes will use the defense of sexual abuse to convince the jurors that her actions were all motivated by fear and sexual coercion. It is, of course, her right to choose any defense she chooses.
The judge has already ruled that the defense team of Ramesh ” Sunny ” Balwani, the former COO and president of Theranos, as well as the romantic partner of Holmes, will not be allowed in the courtroom. Her contention was that Balwani controlled her.
In response, the prosecution team has turned up “love poetry” Holmes wrote to Balwani, and interviews Holmes gave the media as the company was about to go out of business where she referred to Balwani as her “Tiger.”
The trial has moved away from fraud and is descending into a media circus that is swirling about an attractive young blond who has stirred the ire – or pity of people throughout the nation.
But Not a Good Start
Elizabeth Holmes has a new (romantic) partner named Billy Evans. They have an infant together. I am not descending into gossip here because I need to point out how the media is feeding and being fed.
As the jury selection was starting, a reporter for NPR happened upon a man in the courtroom who was wearing a Patagonia jacket and a baseball cap. The reporter casually asked who he was and why he was there.
He said his name was “Hanson,” and that he had always wanted to sit in on a trial, sort of like a bucket-list wish. Fair enough. One thing that stuck with the reporter was that he referred to himself as a concerned citizen.
According to the reporter assigned to cover the case, about a week later, “Hanson” showed up again, but he was wearing a suit and was walking into the court with Elizabeth Holmes!
The man’s name is Bill Evans, who is the father of Elizabeth Holmes’ partner. According to the NPR report:
“While he masqueraded as casual spectator Hanson, Bill Evans defended Holmes to trial reporters, saying the news media chronically mistreated the Theranos founder in its coverage of her.”
CNN reporter Sara Ashley O’Brien “told NPR the name on his Starbucks cup was either Bill or Billy, not Hanson. She also told NPR he wore Salvatore Ferragamo loafers, an expensive choice that casts doubt on his claims that he was an everyman.”
Evasive is not a good look
While the follow-up questioning of Bill Evans showed him to be evasive, even immature, it was not exactly illegal, but again bordering on the unethical. He was adding more blood to the waters of a press that has become well acquainted with the deception of this case.
While I doubt it will be admissible, the award-winning book “Bad Blood,” about the rise of Holmes and Theranos, paints a mostly unsympathetic picture of the entire manipulation of the healthcare profession and major investors.
I wondered at first, who on the Holmes defense team might have had the audacity to put Bill Evans up to his nonsense. The reporter, when it was revealed, asked Evans if he was a mole. He stupidly joked that he had a mole on top of his head.
The Evans family both Bill, and son Billy (Holmes’ partner) have a long history in Southern California in the foodservice business. They are quite wealthy. My hunch is that their wealth made them believe they were more clever than the media. It doesn’t work that way, and in fact it may have the reverse effect.
Whether Holmes was abused or not, remains to be seen, but Theranos was all about a massive deception. The repartee with Bill Evans might give us a glimpse into a much larger mindset of privilege and arrogance in an atmosphere of no oversite. Her case becomes increasingly unsympathetic, the media circus will continue.
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