A jury of 18 other people, together with six alternates, used to be decided on on Friday. The trial is slated to move on for 13 weeks.
Balwani is much less of a family identify than Holmes, a onetime tech trade icon who used to be featured on mag covers and has been the topic of documentaries, podcasts and, maximum just lately, “The Dropout,” a restricted collection on Hulu. However his trial may be offering new glimpses into their courting and the decision-making procedure within the C-suite at Theranos. It will additionally be offering a discussion board for Balwani and his legal professionals to indicate the finger at Holmes after she tried all the way through her personal trial to shift blame to Balwani.
“It is going to be fascinating to peer what, if any, explicit defenses Balwani raises and whether or not he is going after her up to she went after him,” mentioned Michael G. Freedman, a white collar protection legal professional who has represented high-profile defendants reminiscent of Invoice Cosby.
The back-to-back trials create an odd dynamic for Balwani’s case, in line with criminal professionals. “It turns into kind of like a recreation of chess,” mentioned Freedman, a former federal prosecutor. He cited the protection’s distinctive good thing about having been in a position to watch Holmes’ trial, whilst additionally mentioning that the federal government, too, used to be in a position to peer how its case used to be gained through Holmes’ jurors.
The record of imaginable witnesses who might be referred to as all the way through the trial comprises most of the identical giant identify buyers, political figures and retail executives as have been floated with the Holmes’ trial, with no less than one exception. Henry Kissinger, the 98-year-old former Secretary of State who as soon as served on Theranos’ board, has been crossed off the record, in line with a courtroom submitting of a drafted juror questionnaire.
Federal prosecutors will most likely center of attention on Balwani’s accountability in overseeing key facets of the corporate which can be central to its case, together with the startup’s monetary projections, its lab, and its retail partnerships.
“That is about him. That is about possible choices he made. That is about issues he mentioned. That is about issues he knew,” mentioned Jennifer Kennedy Park, a white collar protection litigator who’s a spouse at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.
The protection, then again, would possibly search to as a substitute emphasize Balwani’s loss of clinical experience. In keeping with Park, Balwani’s legal professional would possibly center of attention on moving blame onto Holmes and others, reminiscent of Theranos’ lab administrators, for its failings a lot as Holmes sought to do in her personal trial.
