What Elizabeth Holmes jurors will be asked ahead of fraud trial
31 August 2021
Jury selection begins today in USA v. Elizabeth Holmes, with the actual jury trial to get underway on Sept. 8.
Why it matters: Theranos was the biggest fraud in Silicon Valley history, putting both hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of patients' health at risk.
Among the questions for potential jurors, per a court filing:
- Do they or anyone close to them have experience in such areas as venture capital investing, finance, blood testing, healthcare or blood testing?
- Have they ever received any form of medical treatment (including vaccinations) in a pharmacy and/or grocery store? You may recall that Theranos had in-store deals with both Walgreens and Safeway.
- Have they commented, liked or otherwise interacted on social media with anything relating to Holmes, Theranos or Sunny Balwani? They'll also be asked if they follow any of 15 listed journalists (via Twitter, podcasts, etc), or if they've seen or listened to a list of programs that have discussed the case.
The potential witness list includes former Theranos board members like Jim Mattis, Bill Frist and Henry Kissinger.
- Others include attorney David Boies, ex-Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove, Coatue Management's Philippe Laffont, ex-Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Sue Desmond Hellmann, and journalists John Carreyrou (WSJ) and Roger Parloff (ex-Fortune).