伊丽莎白·霍尔姆斯请求法官推翻对她的定罪,她表示,排除合理怀疑后,没有任何理性的陪审团会认定她犯有共谋和电信欺诈罪。
霍尔姆斯在上周五晚些时候向加州圣何塞联邦法院递交了申请。这是常规操作,试图推翻陪审团的判决,但希望渺茫。
刑事辩护律师塞斯·柯雷策表示:“对审判法庭的处置提起上诉时,几乎都会对证据的充分性提出质疑;在联邦巡回上诉法院审理的欺诈案件中,每年可能只有一起上诉能够成功。”
作为Theranos公司的创始人兼前首席执行官,霍尔姆斯在1月被判对其指控的11项共谋和电信欺诈罪名中有4项罪名成立,4项欺诈患者的罪名不成立。对于另外3项罪名,陪审团未能达成共识。
她还被判与前Theranos总裁拉梅什·桑尼·巴尔瓦尼同谋实施欺诈,但她的律师认为检察官并没有提供两人合谋的证据。
在案件审理过程中,检方向陪审团出示了大量邮件和短信,证明两人在相互配合。霍尔姆斯的律师在申请中称:“在审判中被作为证据的数百条短信中,只有一条短信貌似与向投资者陈述的内容有关。”他们所说的短信与鲁伯特·默多克的一笔投资有关。
但律师称,这条由证人描述的短信“没有暗示巴尔瓦尼先生和霍尔姆斯女士正在共谋欺诈默多克先生。”
柯雷策表示:“即使法官批准这项动议,检方依旧可以向第九巡回上诉法院上诉。检察官们都训练有素,他们在审判中出示了大量证据,因此即使部分证据在上诉中被推翻,依旧有足够多证据能够至少维持一项罪名。”
霍尔姆斯的律师还对被判成立的几项电信欺诈罪提出了质疑,这是检方起诉霍尔姆斯的主要罪名。
检方起诉的依据是,霍尔姆斯没有如实说明Theranos血液分析仪的功能和准确度。霍尔姆斯的律师主张,投资者欺诈罪名的主要依据是举报者埃里卡·张的证词。但律师称,张作证称Theranos的检测结果不准确,是在霍尔姆斯向投资者宣传新版分析仪之前。
霍尔姆斯的律师写道:“与Theranos合作的投资者关注的是公司的长期目标,及其未来影响医疗行业的能力。”
美国地方法官爱德华·达维拉安排在7月份举行听证会,考虑霍尔姆斯的申请。按计划将在9月对霍尔姆斯做出判决。
与此同时,对巴尔瓦尼的同样指控仍在审理当中。
美国旧金山检察官办公室发言人亚布拉罕·西蒙斯并未立即对置评请求作出答复。(财富中文网)
译者:刘进龙
审校:汪皓
伊丽莎白·霍尔姆斯请求法官推翻对她的定罪,她表示,排除合理怀疑后,没有任何理性的陪审团会认定她犯有共谋和电信欺诈罪。
霍尔姆斯在上周五晚些时候向加州圣何塞联邦法院递交了申请。这是常规操作,试图推翻陪审团的判决,但希望渺茫。
刑事辩护律师塞斯·柯雷策表示:“对审判法庭的处置提起上诉时,几乎都会对证据的充分性提出质疑;在联邦巡回上诉法院审理的欺诈案件中,每年可能只有一起上诉能够成功。”
作为Theranos公司的创始人兼前首席执行官,霍尔姆斯在1月被判对其指控的11项共谋和电信欺诈罪名中有4项罪名成立,4项欺诈患者的罪名不成立。对于另外3项罪名,陪审团未能达成共识。
她还被判与前Theranos总裁拉梅什·桑尼·巴尔瓦尼同谋实施欺诈,但她的律师认为检察官并没有提供两人合谋的证据。
在案件审理过程中,检方向陪审团出示了大量邮件和短信,证明两人在相互配合。霍尔姆斯的律师在申请中称:“在审判中被作为证据的数百条短信中,只有一条短信貌似与向投资者陈述的内容有关。”他们所说的短信与鲁伯特·默多克的一笔投资有关。
但律师称,这条由证人描述的短信“没有暗示巴尔瓦尼先生和霍尔姆斯女士正在共谋欺诈默多克先生。”
柯雷策表示:“即使法官批准这项动议,检方依旧可以向第九巡回上诉法院上诉。检察官们都训练有素,他们在审判中出示了大量证据,因此即使部分证据在上诉中被推翻,依旧有足够多证据能够至少维持一项罪名。”
霍尔姆斯的律师还对被判成立的几项电信欺诈罪提出了质疑,这是检方起诉霍尔姆斯的主要罪名。
检方起诉的依据是,霍尔姆斯没有如实说明Theranos血液分析仪的功能和准确度。霍尔姆斯的律师主张,投资者欺诈罪名的主要依据是举报者埃里卡·张的证词。但律师称,张作证称Theranos的检测结果不准确,是在霍尔姆斯向投资者宣传新版分析仪之前。
霍尔姆斯的律师写道:“与Theranos合作的投资者关注的是公司的长期目标,及其未来影响医疗行业的能力。”
美国地方法官爱德华·达维拉安排在7月份举行听证会,考虑霍尔姆斯的申请。按计划将在9月对霍尔姆斯做出判决。
与此同时,对巴尔瓦尼的同样指控仍在审理当中。
美国旧金山检察官办公室发言人亚布拉罕·西蒙斯并未立即对置评请求作出答复。(财富中文网)
译者:刘进龙
审校:汪皓
Elizabeth Holmes asked a judge to toss out her conviction, claiming no rational juror could have found her guilty of conspiracy and wire fraud beyond a reasonable doubt.
The request, filed late Friday in federal court in San Jose, California, is a routine and long-shot attempt to overturn a jury verdict.
“Sufficiency of the evidence challenges are raised in almost every appeal from a trial court disposition; maybe one such appeal a year is successful in a fraud case in any federal circuit court of appeals,” criminal defense attorney Seth Kretzer said.
The founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Theranos Inc. was convicted in January of four out of 11 counts of conspiracy and wire fraud and acquitted of four counts that she deceived patients. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous consensus on three other counts.
She was convicted of conspiring with former Theranos President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to commit fraud, but her lawyers argued prosecutors cited no evidence of such an agreement.
At trial, the government showed jurors numerous emails and texts to demonstrate coordination between the two. “Of the hundreds of text messages admitted at trial, the government cites only one that appears to relate to the content of representations to an investor,” lawyers for Holmes wrote in the filing, referring to a message about an investment by Rupert Murdoch.
But the text, described by a witness for context, “provides no inkling that Mr. Balwani and Ms. Holmes were conspiring to defraud Mr. Murdoch,” the lawyers wrote.
“Even if the judge were grant this motion, the government would still appeal to the Ninth Circuit” court of appeals, Kretzer said. “Prosecutors are heavily trained to present trials with abundant evidence so that even if some part were to fall apart on appeal, there is still enough to sustain at least one count of conviction.”
Holmes’s lawyers also attacked the wire fraud counts that she was convicted of, which were the backbone of the government’s case against her.
The basis for the charges was that Holmes lied about the capabilities and accuracy of Theranos blood analyzers. The investor fraud counts relied heavily on the testimony of whistleblower Erica Cheung, lawyers for Holmes argued. But Cheung testified about failures of Theranos results before Holmes promoted to investors a later version of its analyzers, the miniLab, they said.
“Investors, with whom Theranos partnered, were focused on the long-term goals of the company and its ability to impact health care in the future,” Holmes’s lawyers wrote.
US District Judge Edward Davila has scheduled a hearing in July to consider Holmes’s request. She’s scheduled to be sentenced in September.
Meanwhile, Balwani’s trial on the same charges Holmes faced is still underway.
Abraham Simmons, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in San Francisco, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.