Elizabeth Holmes makes second bid in two days for new trial, this time over former lover Balwani

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes on Wednesday demanded yet another new trial, her second bid in two days, again claiming “new evidence” invalidated the verdict of the jury that convicted her on four felony fraud counts.

Holmes, who founded the now-defunct blood-testing startup in 2003 as a Stanford University dropout, on Tuesday filed a motion in U.S. District Court in San Jose, claiming a key prosecution witness in her trial had last month shown up disheveled at her home, apparently remorseful over his testimony against her.

On Wednesday, Holmes filed a motion arguing that federal prosecutors made arguments in the trial of her co-accused and former lover Sunny Balwani — whose trial followed hers — that likely would have led the jurors in her trial to a different decision. Those arguments amounted to new evidence requiring a second trial for her, the motion said.

Holmes, 38, brought on Balwani, 57, as chief operating officer at Theranos. The company went bust in 2018 after the pair were charged with fraud.

Near the end of Holmes’ four-month trial, which ended in January with convictions on three counts of defrauding investors and one count of conspiring with Balwani to defraud investors, she took to the witness stand in her own defense and tearfully claimed Balwani had sexually abused and controlled her. Balwani, who has denied her allegations, was convicted in July of 12 counts of felony fraud, including two counts of conspiring with Holmes.

In Holmes’ trial, government prosecutors sought to present her and Balwani as equals running Theranos, the motion filed Wednesday said. “The government strenuously contested any suggestion that Mr. Balwani exercised influence over Ms. Holmes,” the motion said.