By Staff Writer
A full three days of deliberating was not enough for the jury in the Elizabeth Holmes case to reach a verdict in her federal fraud trial. But, according to NBC Bay Area, court watchers did get a sense of where the jury is focused at this moment.
Reporter Scott Budman was live from the San Jose courthouse, where he shared that the jury requested to hear a call between Elizabeth Holmes and investors. The jurors seemed to be taking it very seriously, heads down, and taking notes. This was a call, by the way, that had a lot of happy investors on it. After all, Theranos at the time had a $7 billion valuation. It was private, of course, but shares were going for $75 each. Prosecutors, though, have told us, and told the jury, that Holmes lied to investors, which is essentially the backbone of their case.
On the tapes, Holmes is heard talking about her plans to put Theranos machines in retail stores, the potential for a future Theranos IPO and her company’s relationships with the military and pharmaceutical companies. Relationships we now know were exaggerated, but does it add up to fraud? Not necessarily. After all, startup founders in Silicon Valley have rarely expected to be honest all the time with investors. Esquire Digital’s chief legal analyst Aron Solomon agreed:
“So I’m going to be surprised if the jury holds Elizabeth Holmes to that standard. And if they do, startup founders across Silicon Valley, and the nation, should be quaking in their boots a little bit.”
Solomon continued, “By coming back into the courtroom, and listening to some of these recordings, it’s going to be a refresher for them and it may sway some opinion, but it’s not going to sway it in the next couple of hours.”
Budman ended the segment explaining, “And he’s right. After a third day, no verdict yet. The jury will be back next Monday morning to continue deliberations.”
Watch the full report below:
A Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, Aron Solomon, JD, is the Chief Strategy Officer for AMPLIFY. He has taught entrepreneurship at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania, and was elected to Fastcase 50, recognizing the top 50 legal innovators in the world. Aron has been featured in Newsweek, The Hill, Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes, CBS News, CNBC, USA Today, ESPN, TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, Venture Beat, The Independent, Fortune China, Abogados, Today’s Esquire, Yahoo!, ABA Journal, Law.com, The Boston Globe, and many other leading publications across the globe.
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