I wrote yesterday about how particularly White Feminism is in fact as judgmental, racist and discriminatory as any white supremacist group as they use their moral superiority to patronize and demoralize anyone who refuses to subscribe and follow the script. The lack of diverse voices ( a wide swath largely of class and color) and of course voices that offer disagreement (see the current issues about Times Up) often enable, if not further, the belief that the sole course of action is right. And largely is that it is all about gender and in turn believing that one gender is morally superior over another. See the White Supremacist similarity? And with that women of color, women who are not American born are often equally subjugated and dismissed with regards to their complaints, blaming said failures on again intrinsic behaviors and not extrinsic factors that block access. What is the untold secret is that many of these women who have attained a place or position of authority that they did not bypass traditional pathways, networks, or accomplish said success without (usually) a white male mentor who either fucked them, or had some type of father dynamic in place in which to foster and develop the relationship that enabled the same women to have both access and availability to powerful people and positions. There are some women who have made success without male influence but they also had a large cohort of other women who embraced and encouraged them, as one can look to the early days of Feminism that arose in the 60s, much like Civil Rights it is a movement over a cause that enables if not encourages it, but today there are few if any women who have not found their place in society secured by either marriage or from birth.
And this brings me to the story of Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos fame and infamy. The story of her fraud and duplicity in rising the company to amazing heights gives illustration to the ability to con. This woman conned many successful and well known men and Betsey DeVos (not a challenge there intellectually as we have come to know) into investing into her company based on an idea. This is the foundation of the Valley, the BIG IDEA, which in many cases are often just BIG LIES passed off as ideas and plans, see Adam Neumann of We Work as another example of this kind of P.T. Barnum bullshit in the land of cash and gravy. But the road to riches is paved with lies and exaggerations, and of course, men chest thumping and dick swinging. And then came Elizabeth with her contrived deep voice, blonde hair and black turtlenecks it was still easy being a child who extrinsically demonstrated the idea of white privilege and still now breaking the glass ceiling that someone less glamorous like say, Hillary Clinton, failed to do. But she managed to do it and for awhile rode that ride like a child at a carnival. And then it was a man, a man from the Wall Street Journal who began to ask questions thanks to another young man and a young woman who too had questions and they began to blow some whistles. But this kind of shit can only be covered up so long before the stink rises and we have seen this with many men of late, Scott Rudin, Andrew Cuomo come to mind, but this is still toxic regardless of who shat it. But what is fascinating is how they never admitted guilt or truly apologized they just retreated and we await to see their inevitable return or not, hey whatever.
But, today as she is prepping for her trial, Elizabeth’s success ladder has collapsed and now in an attempt at redemption is doing what anyone does best in these times, BLAME SOMEONE ELSE. Ah yes that is always a good idea and saying one is a victim of domestic violence is a good defense when any other possible one has been exhausted. Not only is it tragic, this is a horrific notion that further pushes women back into the professional closet. We are either fucking our way to the top or being raped while at the bottom, it is an either/or neither/nor choice that only once again seems to validate the idea that women are stupid manipulative bitches. One of these days Alice!
Elizabeth Holmes expected to argue she suffered abuse from ex-boyfriend during Theranos trial
Unsealed documents in the high-profile case that begins with jury selection Aug. 31 include accusations against Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani of “essentially dominating her and erasing her capacity to make decisions.”
By Jay Greene and Rachel Lerman The Washington Post August 29, 2021
Former Theranos chief executive Elizabeth Holmes is likely to argue in her criminal trial that abuse by her ex-boyfriend, who was the company’s president, rendered her incapable of making her own decisions, according to documents unsealed in the case early Saturday morning.
Holmes, who started Theranos when she was a 19-year-old student at Stanford University, is charged with 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for allegedly defrauding investors and patients in connection to her failed blood-testing firm. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Aug. 31, with the trial starting Sept. 8.
The unusual defense strategy in one the highest-profile corporate trials in years offers clearer details on how Holmes plans to frame the implosion of a company that was once one of the industry’s start-up darlings. Holmes graced magazine covers and regularly appeared on business television programs while Theranos took in hundreds of millions of dollars from household-name investors such as Rupert Murdoch and Betsy DeVos. But her fall, after a 2015 Wall Street Journal investigation showed the company’s technology was unreliable, led to the many claims of fraud.
Several of the newly unsealed documents relate to the successful efforts by Holmes’s ex-boyfriend, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, to separate his trial from hers. Holmes’s plans to argue intimate partner violence as a defense would prevent him from receiving a fair trial if the cases were joined, Balwani’s lawyers argued in the documents.
One unsealed Balwani filing from February notes the strategy: “Ms. Holmes plans to introduce evidence that Mr. Balwani verbally disparaged her and withdrew ‘affection if she displeased him’; controlled what she ate, how she dressed, how much money she could spend, who she could interact with — essentially dominating her and erasing her capacity to make decisions.”
Holmes’s lawyers introduced the possible defense in December, noting that it might call an expert witness to testify about “whether and how Ms. Holmes’ relationship with Mr. Balwani was consistent with intimate partner abuse,” and also attest to “Ms. Holmes’ particular vulnerability to an abusive relationship.” In a separate filing, Holmes’s lawyers note that it is “highly likely” Holmes will introduce evidence of “intimate partner abuse.”
Holmes’s filings provide some detail into her allegations of abuse. She alleges that Balwani monitored her calls, texts and email messages, that he threw “hard, sharp objects” at her, and that he restricted her sleep and monitored her movements, among other charges.ADVERTISING
In his legal response, Balwani’s lawyers disputed Holmes’s abuse claims, arguing they are “deeply offensive to Mr. Balwani, devastating personally to him, and highly and unfairly prejudicial to his defense of this case.”
The filings also answer a question about which has been widely speculated, whether Holmes will testify in her own defense, something that often is a perilous legal strategy because it opens a defendant up to cross-examination by prosecutors. The apparent answer is yes.
“Ms. Holmes is likely to testify herself to the reasons why she believed, relied on, and deferred to Mr. Balwani,” according to one of her legal filings in February.
Court documents had previously indicated that Holmes was evaluated by a psychologist who specializes in violence against women and interpersonal violence, leading to speculation that her attorneys could mount a so-called “mental defect” defense. The government also asked, and was granted, the chance to have Holmes evaluated by medical professionals they appointed.https://85c90c650def3b002604d56bc0e8515c.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
The documents were unsealed after a lawyer for Dow Jones, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, asked the court to make them public. Balwani’s lawyers opposed the unsealing, and Holmes’s lawyers asked the judge to wait longer before making them public.
Balwani was initially charged with Holmes, but the two later had their cases separated. His trial is scheduled to begin in January. The unsealed documents also show that Balwani requested to be tried first. And they show that the government opposed severing the trial.
Theranos attempted to develop miniature lab technology, which sometimes was called the “Edison,” that could quickly and inexpensively run hundreds of tests from just a couple of drops of blood collected after pricking a finger. But investigations led by reporting from the Journal revealed severe dysfunction within the young company and technology that was erratic and unreliable.
Theranos was actually using traditional lab equipment, made by outside companies, to run most tests, the Journal’s reporting showed. And scientists within the company were uneasy about how often the company’s machine seemed to give unreliable results.
Holmes launched Theranos in 2003 and grew it to about 800 employees and a valuation of $9 billion before it ultimately collapsed in 2018. In a chaotic period after the Journal’s bombshell reports were published, partners including Safeway and Walgreens dissolved deals with the company.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees clinical labs, found deficiencies at the company’s lab. Theranos eventually settled with the agency and agreed not to operate any clinical labs for two years. Holmes also settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over fraud allegations, and was barred from serving as a director or officer of a public company for a decade.
Judge Edward J. Davila, of the federal court in the Northern District of California, said during a hearing Thursday that he thought it wise to unseal the documents before potential jurors are brought in to be questioned next week. That way, lawyers could ask them if they had seen any recent media coverage of the case, he said.
Holmes’s lawyers had asked that the unsealing be delayed until after jurors had been chosen and directed not to read media items.
Off the Rack Publishing 